


The Skyline Splits In Two

by MaximumMarygold



Series: Bella Baggins Gets Stuff Done [2]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BOFA Fix it, Baby Frodo, Bella Baggins is BACK y'all, Bella takes no shit, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, For a badass adventure completely unrelated to the last one, I don't think the violence is that graphic but just in case, Kidfic, M/M, She is constantly giving Thorin hell and it's beautiful, Writer Bella, kind of, universe jumping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 09:48:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 84,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4096390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaximumMarygold/pseuds/MaximumMarygold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Belladonna Baggins wakes up in the world of Arda, the world she'd thought she'd made up, she's not completely sure that she isn't dreaming, and once she is she doesn't quite know what to do.<br/>Journeying with a company of dwarves to reclaim their homeland from a dragon seems like a good enough idea (she'd been writing of the quest for years; she knew every single thing that was going to happen.)</p><p>(Except, apparently she didn't...)</p><p>The BOFA fix-it you've never seen before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Curioser And Curioser

**Author's Note:**

> AND VIOLA,  
> The first part of the second installment in "Bella Baggins Gets Stuff Done"
> 
> The BOFA Fix It fic that no one's seen before ;D
> 
> I've been wanting to do one for a while but I wanted to do it DIFFERENTLY  
> Bam. Writer Bella!
> 
> The fun, all encompassing fic graphic <3 [here](http://stilesinerebor.tumblr.com/post/120977449840/when-belladonna-baggins-wakes-up-in-the-world-of)

Belladonna Baggins hadn’t meant to become a bestselling fantasy author; really. She had just been writing for fun, for herself, for something to do during the day while her nephew was in school. She’d spun a tale of a kind of… middle earth.

Dwarves on a quest to reclaim their homeland from a dragon. Nothing too fancy; a couple of wizards, some elves… Nothing special.

But the Arda series had taken off beyond her wildest dreams when Frodo had brought the thing to his English teacher and he’d _published_ it.  

And things had progressed from there.

* * *

Bella woke up slowly and with the familiar weight of Frodo on her chest; he often crawled into her bed when he had a bad dream. He never woke her, just slipped into bed and pressed himself against her side.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first, she was in a bed, Frodo was there, the light was hitting the left side of her face like it always did. But there were chickens crowing outside the window.

And it was… it was _Monday_! Bella shot up, her tank top falling from one shoulder in her haste. The sun was shining in her face and it was _Monday_ , Frodo was going to be so late for school and she was never going to make it to the meeting with her editor on time! Why hadn’t her alarm gone off?

But a quick glance around showed a distinct lack of cell phone or laptop. It was still her room, obviously, the same wooden floor, the same pale blue walls, the same antique clock on the wall.

It just felt… off, especially with the sudden disappearance of her technology.

“Curiouser and curiouser…” Bella mumbled to herself, giggling softly at her own joke. “Frodo, are you playing a prank to get out of going to school?” She asked, reaching down and poking her nephew’s side gently, her smile widening when he just grumbled and rolled away from her.

“It didn’t work.” She declared loudly, poking him again, “So get up while I go get breakfast started.”

That’s when things got weird; she couldn’t find her coffee maker everywhere, her phone and computer was still nowhere to be seen, and to top it all over the television in the living room was gone.

And not gone like she’d been robbed in the middle of the night, but gone like it had never been there, the space that had housed it along with her DVD player was piled high with books in languages Bella had never seen before.

No.

No, that wasn’t right. Bella recognized words as she flipped through the books; she had seen the language before. She _created_ the language.

“What the hell…?” She whispered as Frodo’s tiny hands curled themselves around the hem of her shirt.

“Aunt Bella,” He said quietly, the way he was wont to do, “what happened to the toaster?”

“That is a very good question, my lad.” Bella ruffled his curly hair, “Can’t make toast without a toaster.” She paused, “How about you stay home from school today, huh? We’ll just lounge about the house like a couple of layabouts.”

If it was even her house.

“Well, it would appear the lady was correct.”

Bella nearly fell over, a shriek erupting from her mouth as she spun around, firmly shoving Frodo behind her. “Who are you?” She demanded of the tall, bearded man standing in her doorway.

The doorway.

Because it was definitely not her house.

“Where am I?” She asked as an afterthought, “What lady said what?”

Behind her, Frodo clung to the back of her shirt, peeking around her hip curiously. He was wary of strangers, even at the tender age of six, and Bella was extremely relieved to not have to deal with a rambunctious child trying to greet the stranger.

“I am Gandalf.” The man said, “You are in the Shire of Hobbiton, my dear, as the Lady Galadriel said you would be.”

“The lady…” Bella froze, her breath catching in her throat, “The Lady Galadriel could not have told you a thing because she does not exist.”

“Oh, I assure you she does.” The man, Gandalf, said.

“No, she does not. I should know since I created her. And Gandalf The Grey as well!” Bella’s hands we shaking and she quickly hid them behind her back, relaxing the slightest bit when Frodo’s fingers closed around hers. “So you see, you cannot be him and she cannot be her and I cannot be in Hobbiton or the Shire because they all things that I invented.”

“They’re people and places from Aunt Bella’s books.” Frodo piped up softly.

Bella shushed him gently.

“Gandalf” looked a little put out at her nephew’s words, “She did not tell me that you did not come alone.”

“I haven’t ‘come’ anywhere!” Bella exclaimed, “And if this is a really elaborate prank I want whoever put you up to it to know that it’s not funny. And want my phone, and my computer, and my _coffee machine_ back.”

Now he just looked perplexed, “I’m sure I haven’t the foggiest idea what any of those things are. But this is _not_ a prank, I _am_ Gandalf, and you _are_ in the Shire and there _is_ a company of thirteen dwarves headed this way.”

Thirteen… “Are you trying to tell me that the company of _Thorin Oakenshield_ is coming?”

“They need a burglar.” Gandalf confirmed, “And the Lady tells me that you are just the lady for the job.” He made his way further into Bella’s house, making himself comfortable in the armchair by the fireplace and pulling out a pipe. “Now,” he said, “tell me about these books of yours. I dare say any story with myself as a character must be quite the tale indeed.”

That had Frodo’s attention; the Arda series was something he could talk about nonstop for the foreseeable future. It even made him forget about the lack of toast.

The fact that Bella could see the living room very clearly from her kitchen was the only thing that had her feeling okay to set about making a very, very large lunch.

She had to keep herself busy before she had time to freak out; because a freak out right then would have resulted in her probably fainting which was not recommended when there was a man claiming to be a powerful wizard (that she created) in her living room with her nephew.

And also, if by some absolute miracle she _wasn’t_ dreaming and she _wasn’t_ crazy and “Gandalf” was who he said he _was_ and she was where he said she was… Then she needed to have food prepared because dwarves could _eat_.

They passed the afternoon like that, Frodo enthusiastically recounting the escapades of The Company of Thorin Oakenshield.

“Don’t give away too much, dear.” Bella said absently, bread dough slowly firming beneath her hands, “If we are really here then I would hate to think that our interference changes things.” Not that it ended well for Thorin or his nephews as it was.

“Where are we?” Frodo finally asked.

“I don’t know.” Bella replied at the same time “Gandalf” said, “In Arda of course!”

And there was no curving Frodo’s excitement after that, though they quickly explained to him that he had to keep everything he knew a _secret_.

Bella, for her part, was still fairly sure that she was dreaming, though in her dreams she was generally less aware that she was dreaming. And the glorious smells wafting from the various pots and pans in her kitchen were certainly real enough.

But the only other option was that she was actually somehow in the world that she herself created and that thought alone was enough to make her head a little fuzzy so she stopped thinking about it.

The first dwarf arrived just after sundown, as Bella was pulling the fourth tray of scones from the oven.

“Dwalin.” Bella whispered, even as he introduced himself,  recognizing the bald head and tattoos.

He was actually rather terrifying in person, truth be told. It was one thing to imagine a hulking, bearded man with knuckle dusters, it was another thing entirely to actually be standing in front of him and realize that he was bigger than her even though he was a dwarf.

Which made Bella wonder idly what she had manifested as in this particular dream, though the question quickly answered itself for the only thing that was smaller than a dwarf was a _hobbit_.

And Frodo as well! Before, he had been far too tall for her to pick up most of the time, but now, glancing at him still sitting with Gandalf on the sofa, Bella was sure she could do it with no problems. He looked about the size of a three year old.

“I am a hobbit.” She muttered idly as Dwalin shrugged off his cloak and made his way through her house and into the kitchen.

“What was that, lass?” Dwalin asked and Bella could only shake her head mutely, staring down at her feet and wondering _how_ she had not noticed that they were a good bit larger and hairier than they had been when she had fallen asleep.

Balin was next, the dwarf that Bella had modeled after her own grandfather doing a lot to ease her nerves as he smiled pleasantly at her before catching sight of his brother and rushing to greet him.

When Bella opened the door for Fili and Kili she nearly started to cry; she’d had a soft spot for the nephews of Thorin Oakenshield from the start of her writing, but she had never imagined them so young and soft looking.

She wasn’t aware, really, how much smaller than his brother Kili would look without the beard that most dwarves donned, despite the fact that he was taller than the blonde Durin.

“Hello.” Bella managed after they had introduced themselves.

“You must be Miss. Boggins!” Kili smiled at her, wide and genuinely happy.

“It’s… it’s Baggins actually.” She stuttered, quickly moving from the doorway so they could come inside. “Belladonna Baggins.”

“That’s a pretty name.” Fili said idly as he dropped his weapons with the rest -well, the two large swords and the war hammer. Bella knew for a fact that he hid multiple smaller knives about his person.

“It’s a poisonous flower.” Bella responded with a wry twist of her lips, enjoying the delighted expressions that crossed the brother’s face.

“That is a _fantastic_ name.” Kili corrected his brother enthusiastically. “I suppose that poison must be a good thing for a burglar to know.”

That’s right, Gandalf had said something about that (she figured that she could remove the quotations from around his name for the moment). “I suppose it must be.” She said, though honestly she wouldn’t know. She had never burgled a single thing in her life.

In her book, as she wrote it, the dwarves had had no burglar. They had faced off against the dragon all by their lonesome.

Bella didn’t like that things were already changing.

The next group of dwarves was so large and fell through Bella’s door so suddenly that had her reflexes been just a little bit slower she would have been crushed under who was unmistakably Bombur.

As it was she gasped loud enough that Kili poked his head around the corner with half a chicken leg hanging from his mouth to see if she was alright.

It was a surreal experience, for characters, _people_ that she created to introduce themselves to her like they were complete strangers. Like she wasn’t already reminding herself to pack some paper and a few extra quills for Ori in case he ran out and like she hadn’t made an extra batch of Pumpkin cakes because they were Dwalin’s favorite.

The dwarves were a rowdy bunch, but then Bella had already known that. She had hid all of her good china in her bedroom before they’d arrived and carefully arranged all of her breakables so that if they got knocked from their shelves they would land on something soft.

When they started throwing her cutlery and plates around like they were frisbees she wasn’t too bothered, in fact she simply pulled Frodo into her lap and laughed along with him as Kili took a bowl to the nose.

“If you break it, you clean it up.” She warned them all as Gandalf came to sit beside her.

“You are taking this remarkably well.” He said idly, lighting up another pipe.

“Yes, well, I’m still mostly sure that this is all a very vivid dream.” Bella said, shrugging one shoulder and very pointedly ignoring Gandalf’s stern look.

“Well, I suppose you’ll see soon enough.” He mumbled.

“Thorin is fashionably late as always, I see. Probably got lost.” Her lips quirked into a smile, “The man couldn’t find his way out of a laundry basket with GPS and a map.”

Gandalf snorted, “And yet he is the leader of this quest.”

“Yes, well, can’t very well have an adventure series where everything goes peachy.” Bella mumbled absently as Frodo wiggled to get down and go join the dwarves. “Fili!” She called, smiling when the older brother looked her way, “Would you keep an eye on my nephew? He wants to play with you all but he’s so tiny..”

Fili absolutely beamed, bounding over like an excited puppy and plucking Frodo from Bella’s arms; he was positively tiny sitting situated against the dwarf’s hip. “I will make sure he stays safe, Miss. Baggins.”

“Thank you.” Bella waved as her nephew was spirited away into the _gaggle_ of dwarves in her dining room where he was promptly passed around and cooed over by every single one of them, even Dwalin. “Well, he’s certainly popular.”

Gandalf laughed, though he stopped abruptly when another knock sounded on the door. The party quieted immediately and Bella stood with a sigh.

“That’ll be Mr. Sense Of Direction.” She mumbled to herself, making her way to the door and pulling it open.

Her breath caught in her throat.

She hadn’t written Thorin to be attractive. Thorin was many things to her; loyal, brave, a little misguided at times, stubborn a fault, and then there was the whole Goldsickness aspect… but she’d never thought of him as _attractive_.

But he was. And she wasn’t expecting it. Which is why she just stared at him for several long seconds, and then several more before she finally came back to her senses and backed out of his way, pressing herself against the wall as Gandalf came forward to greet him enthusiastically.

“Gandalf.” The king said warmly, “I thought you said this place was easy to find. I lost my way. Twice.”

Bella snorted despite herself, trying to quickly cover it with a cough though it turned into a real cough when Thorin’s intense gaze turned to her.

“So,” he said, eyeing her up and down, “this is the hobbit.”

“Bella.” She corrected automatically, drawing herself to her full height (which honestly wasn’t very impressive when she was her real size let alone when she was smaller than a dwarf).

“What is she wearing?” Thorin addressed Gandalf and Bella bristled. She had never changed from the sweatpants and tanktop she had worn to bed- finding that all of her clothes had been replaced by long skirts, flowy tops, and _corsets_.

“ _She_ is standing right here. And _she_ is wearing _clothes_ , Mr. Oakenshield, the same as you. Though I managed to find my way here on time, which is where we differ.” She snapped.

The fact that it was her house and she had woken up there was unimportant.

Thorin’s mouth quirked into a smirk, “She looks more like a school teacher than a burglar.”

“I’ll have you know,” Bella ground out, “that I am a _writer_.”

“What is your weapon of choice?” Thorin continued like she had never even spoken, “Axe or Sword?”

“I don’t know, which one is better for smacking you upside the head with?”

There was a sudden outbreak of coughing from the kitchen and the distinct giggle that belonged to little Frodo Baggins.

Oh dear.

The entire company had just heard her sass the king.

“I told you she was cool!” Frodo crowed from the other room before the slap of his feet hitting the ground sounded and he was padding into the entryway, latching onto Bella’s leg. “Aunt Bella will smack you with a wooden spoon if you don’t stop being a butthead.” He said very seriously.

Bella had to force back another snort. Leave it to her nephew. “You too if you do not quickly find your manners, Frodo Baggins.” She said instead.

Frodo’s little eyebrows pinched together but he looked up at Thorin and held out a hand nevertheless, “Hello,” he said, rather mechanically, “I’m Frodo. It’s nice to meet you.”

Thorin looked at a loss for what to do with the little thing who only came up to his hip, but in the end he seemed to realize that he was supposed to shake Frodo’s hand, which he did with three fingers. “Hello, Frodo.” He said, “I am Thorin.”

Frodo nodded absently, his gaze suddenly caught on the braids woven into Thorin’s long hair, “Hey.” he breathed, “you have hair like Fee and Kee!” He reached for one of the braids and Bella was just raising a hand to pull him back; dwarves were notoriously touchy about their braids, when Thorin surprised her by holding the braid out for Thorin to inspect.

“These are so cool!” Frodo said, turning the braid over in his hands gently, “Aunt Bella can waterfall braid.”

“What is a waterfall braid?” Thorin asked, finally looking up at Bella and this time his eyes were softer.

Bella found she couldn’t be grumpy at him when he let Frodo touch his hair, “It’s hard to explain… But it goes along the side if your head and…I’ll show you later.” She finished lamely.

Thorin nodded, standing and taking Frodo with him. “Are you hungry?” Bella’s nephew asked, “Aunt Bella makes the best scones _ever_.”

“Does she now?” Thorin asked, making his way into the kitchen with the rest of the company, leaving Bella staring after the pair of them and wondering what the hell had just happened.

When Bella had gone to bed the previous night there had been beer in her fridge; it was not there when she woke up and that was a sad, sad thing indeed because she figured she could really use one as thirteen dwarves and a wizard sat around her grandfather’s dining room table discussing how they were going to get their home back from a dragon.

Smaug.

“We don’t even know if the dragon is still alive.” Someone pointed out, it was so loud that Bella couldn’t tell who.

That sparked a whole other argument.

“We can’t ask Bella to go into a mountain where there still might be a dragon!” Ori piped up.

Truth be told, not matter what Gandalf or Galadriel had to say about it, Bella wasn’t sure she was the person for the job anyways, “You’re going to need an expert…” She said softly.

“Did you hear that?” Oin said, grinning in her direction and waving his ear trumpet, “She said shes an expert!”

That was most definitely not what she had said but she didn’t have time to argue that point as a few of the others decided to argue it for her.

She wasn’t sure if she was grateful or offended.

Gandalf stood then, the sharp prickle of magic in the air, “Enough!” He yelled, “If I say Bella Baggins is a burglar than a burglar she is!”

“What about Frodo?” She asked suddenly, “I’m sure this will be no journey for a fauntling to take.” It was definitely not a journey for Frodo.

That quieted the room. “We can protect him…?” Fili said softly, though he was staring down at the child napping in his lap with apprehension.

“He is _not_ coming.” Bella said sternly. Dream or not.

“Then you accept our offer, Mrs. Baggins?” Thorin asked, eyebrows raising, “You will of course be rewarded handsomely.”

“It’s Miss.” Bella said, “And I obviously can’t go, even if I wanted to. I am Frodo’s only guardian. His parents…” She paused, swallowing past the lump in her throat at the thought of Prim and Drogo, “his parents died last year.”

Kili reached out, brushing Frodo’s curls back. “Poor thing…”

“Then we have a problem.” Thorin said softly, “Because you cannot leave Frodo, but he also cannot travel with us.”

“The obvious answer is that I stay here.”

“That also will not work.” Gandalf shook his head, “No, Frodo Baggins will come,” he held up a hand when Bella as well as Fili and Kili opened their mouths to protest, “only to Rivendell. Where we will leave him with a dear friend of mine.”

Lord Elrond. Bella shot a glance to Thorin, already expecting the protest. “You may take the child to Rivendell. The rest of us will go around and meet up with you at the Misty Mountains.”

There it was.

Gandalf looked thunderous, but Bella raised her arms. Nothing particularly nasty happened until they got to Rivendell anyways, aside from the Trolls. And she could avoid that if she worked carefully.

She would change that one thing for the sake of her nephew.

“I am agreeable to this, Gandalf.” Bella said. “You and I will travel to Rivendell and leave Frodo in the care of Lord Elrond. He is particularly fond of tales of elves, I’m sure he will not protest.”

“Well,” Dwalin mumbled, “I guess there’s no accounting for taste.”

There was a mumble of general agreement and then Thorin was handing Bella a long scroll of paper (and she was definitely not shivering as his fingers rasped against her palm).

“What’s this?” She asked.

“Your contract.”

Bella bit her lip. She was scared to read it; if she _could_ read it it would mean that this wasn’t a dream. She was actually in the mythical world of her creation about to take her nephew to a city ruled by elves and then continue on to lure a dragon out of a mountain kingdom for a bunch of dwarves that she made up.

“Aren’t you going to read it?” Balin asked.

“I… yes.” Bella said, before lowering her eyes to the paper and beginning to read.

She got three perfectly legible sentences in before she fainted.

In the end she did chose to go with them, if only because Galadriel was set to meet them in Rivendell if all went according to her book, which, by the torrential downpour that hit them on the second day it _was_ all going according to her book and she'd seen enough bad movies to know that the only way she was going to get home was if she went along with the adventure.

And she so wanted to get home.

Frodo was miserable under his oilskin. He hated cold, and rain, and thunder, and wind, and basically everything about the weather that wasn’t sunny and warm.

He clung to Bella like a little monkey and she longed for her Ipod or something to drown out the thunder. She took to humming quietly, directly into his ears.

“Hobbits have strange songs.” Bofur commented as the company lounged around the campfire the night the rain finally stopped, three days outside Bree. “Pretty, but no words.”

“They have words.” Bella’s eyebrows rose. “I just don’t have a great voice compared to you lot so I stuck with humming.”

“You have a very nice hum.” Fili assured her.

“Excellent, really.” Kili said, bouncing Frodo on his lap gently.

“What are the words of the songs?” Ori asked, and really Bella should have expected it from him. Little Ori lived and breathed words. “What are they about?”

“Oh, all kinds of things.” Bella said, warming her fingers next to the fire, “Love, hate, family, friends, finding yourself, partying…” She shrugged, “You name it, there’s a song written about it.”

“Food?” Bombur asked.

The only song that came to Bella’s mind was The Cookie Song from Strawberry Shortcake, “I’m sure there is. Like I said, everything. From living to dying.”

“What about war?” Dwalin asked curiously.

“Yes.” Bella nodded.

“What’s your favorite song?” That was from Kili.

The question was always enough to give Bella pause. What was her favorite song? “It changes.” She finally answered.

“What is it right now?” Fili.

“Uh… I think it’s…” She stopped, “I don’t know.”

Frodo giggled, “ _Siuil A Run_!”

Bella’s face lit up, “ _Siuil A Run_.” She agreed, “My favorite song is called _Siuil A Run_.”  

“What is that? Is that Hobbit Language?” Bofur asked.

“I didn’t know hobbits had their own language!” Ori exclaimed.

And Bella just sat back because she had learned the hard way that it was better to let excitable dwarves work things out amoungst themselves.

Frodo was watching the whole thing with no small amount of glee, and she was loathe to disturb him when he was finally enjoying himself so she just leant back on her hands and watched the fire crackle and pop.

She didn’t realize she had spaced out until Thorin took the seat next to her -the one that had been previously filled by Kili- and she was so surprised by his sudden appearance that she nearly jumped out of her skin. “Thorin!” She gasped, pressing a hand over her heart.

“Miss. Baggins.” He said, lips twitching into a small smile at her surprise. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“You didn’t.” Bella sniffed, looking back at the fire.

“Of course.” Thorin hummed, “I was unaware that hobbits had their own language.”

“We don’t.” Bella shrugged, “Not really.” Actually, she had never thought of giving Hobbits their own language. “It’s not like Khuzdul or Sindarin, anyways.”

Thorin’s shoulders stiffened, “You know of Khuzdul?”

Shit, shit, shit, “I asked Gandalf.” Bella said quickly, “Because Bifur speaks it, does he not?”

“He does.” The tension left Thorin as quickly as it had come, “So what does… ‘ _Siuil A Run_ ’ mean?”

Bella pursed her lips, “The literal translation is ‘traveling run’ but in the context of the song it’s more like… ‘Walk My Love’. Its a woman calling her lover to run away with her.” She smiled across the fire at Frodo, now engaged in a lively stick battle with Fili while Kili threw rocks at his brother from the sidelines.

“What other things can you teach me of this… hobbit language?” Thorin asked.

“Why do you want to know?” Bella’s eyebrows rose, “Hobbiton is a long way from Erebor, Master Oakenshield.”

“If I am to be king I should think that I ought to have a pleasant relationship with all the neighboring races, should I not?”

“No, no, you are right. Forgive me.” Bella turned to face him, folding her hands in her lap and silently thanking every deity she could think of that her grandmother had been very, very Irish and had insisted that Bella learn the language. “What would you wish to learn to say?”

Thorin seemed to think on it for a moment, “Hello?”

“ _Dia duit_.” Bella said easily. “You would introduce yourself properly with ‘ _Tá mé Thorin, Rí faoin Mountain uaigneach_ ’ however.”

Thorin repeated it carefully then asked,“Which means?”

“ It means,” Bella said with a smile, “‘I am Thorin, King under The Lonely Mountain.’”

Thorin’s eyes widened in surprise before he ducked his head, “How about ‘nephew’?”

Bella looked to Frodo, Fili, and Kili again, her smile growing. “ _Nia_.”

They kept up their Hobbit (read: Irish) lessons throughout the next couple of days, sometimes with Frodo helping and sometimes with other members of the company joining in, but mostly it was just Bella and Thorin after dinner until Thorin went off to begin his watch.

Balin told her the tale of The Battle Of Azanulbizar and once again Bella had to try her damndest to pretend to be surprised. Though, the expression on Balin’s face as he told the story, the grim remembrance on a lot of the other’s faces, and the way Thorin kept his back to the lot of them told her more than the tale itself did.

Bella couldn’t take her eyes off Thorin throughout the whole thing, though he didn’t look at her once. They were _people_. They weren’t just characters in her stories anymore, they were people now. Living, breathing people who had loved and lost and hurt.

Most of her, the logical part knew that for her to be where she was the world of Arda had to actually exist; she didn’t create it, she just picked up on it. But the smaller part, the part that her imagination tended to run away with wondered _what if_? What if she had created the world, what if she had put these people who she now considered friends through all the horrible things.

What if she caused the goldsickness and subsequent deaths of Thorin, Fili, and Kili? And then later Ori and Balin and Oin?

What if she was the reason for the way Thorin’s shoulders tensed at the mention of his father, and his grandfather, and his baby brother, Frerin. If Bella remembered correctly -she did- Frerin had been killed in battle at only forty eight.

That was nearly thirty years younger than Kili.

Bella swore softly, “He was what,” she asked Gandalf softly, too softly for any of the dwarves to hear, “fifteen by human standards?”

Gandalf nodded. Bella’s heart broke.

“I see why you follow him.” She said, louder, meaning to be heard.

Thorin turned to look at her then, an expression on his face that Bella couldn’t describe; she’d never seen it before.

“What do you mean, Auntie?” Frodo asked, sitting on Balin’s lap and absently braiding his long white beard.

“Well, think about it _A stór_ , after that battle Thorin had lost so much; his father, his grandfather, his little brother…and after all of it, all that loss, he still had to pick himself back up and lead his people. And he’s done so well.” Bella smiled gently at her nephew, watching the understanding dawn in his eyes. And she hadn’t even mentioned him breaking out of the Goldsickness (since that hadn’t happened yet).

Kili had always been Frodo’s favorite; the young, mischievous one. He’d never really given much thought to the others, thought them to be rather boring if Bella was reading him right.

But now there was an admiration in his eyes as he looked at the king, and Bella’s heart warmed as Frodo wiggled his way down from Balin’s lap and crossed the camp, standing hesitantly in front of Thorin for a moment, still only as tall as the dwarf’s shoulders when he was sitting down, before wrapping him in a tight hug.

“You’re a good king.” Bella heard Frodo say as Thorin’s arms wrapped carefully around him.

Bella looked away, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She was so proud of Frodo; he was such a great little kid. A quick glance around her showed that most of the rest of the company sported wet, red eyes as well and she didn’t feel so bad about the tear tracks on her cheeks.

* * *

Before leaving the Shire Bella had thought about leaving her sweats and tank top behind and changing into some of the more traditional clothes in her closet; she hadn’t. She’d brought some of those clothes; two pairs of plain pants, a couple of shirts, along with a vest and a jacket.

But she still had those yoga pants and that tank top for particularly warm days. What she didn’t even think of, however, was how harsh the sun was going to be on her exposed skin.

As they settled down for the night, two weeks or so into the journey, Bella noticed the tightness in her shoulders. She reached back with her hand and hissed when she felt the warmth radiating from her skin before her fingers even got close.

That was going to hurt.

“Miss. Baggins?” Gloin asked, “Are you alright? Bifur says your shoulders look injured.”

Bella glanced at Bifur and tried to smile reassuringly; though he couldn’t speak Common they had some interesting conversations with hand gestures and facial expressions. Mostly making faces at people behind their backs and quickly looking innocent when they turned around.

“I’m alright.” She said. “Just a little bit of a sunburn.”

“A what?” Gloin asked, frowning. “A burn?”

“Who’s burned?” Dori asked, “What have you had to get burned on, lass?”

Bella blinked twice, “Do dwarves not get sunburned?” She looked around the company, taking in their equally confused expressions. “It’s something that happens to hobbits when they stay out in the sun too long.” She was getting very used to calling herself and Frodo hobbits, “Our skin gets red and tight and very hot. And then the skin peels off.”

“ _Your skin peels off_?” Ori squeaked in alarm, clutching onto Nori’s arm tightly.

“Well the skin dies…?” Bella said slowly.

Oin looked extremely concerned, “Like an infection?” He asked.

“No, no, no, nothing so bad. The skin gets extremely dry, and in some cases it can even blister,” which she was pretty sure hers was going to do, “and then the top layer peels off. It’s like… like a snake or a lizard shedding it’s skin.”

“Does it hurt?” Fili piped up from near the new fire with a napping Frodo.

“Very much.” Bella admitted, “But only for a couple of days. Then it gets very itchy as it peels, but then everything is good as new.”

“So do your shoulders hurt right now?” Dwalin finally spoke.

“They’re starting too.” She said, “The skin is very warm so it’s only a matter of time.”

“Oin,” Balin said, “do you have any ointment for that?”

“Well actually-” Bella started to speak but was cut off by the rest of the company putting in their two cents on what would be best to put on their smaller friend’s burn.

Really, if they would just let her speak she would _tell_ them that the aloe vera plant was very good for sunburns.

“ _Damanta fools béal os ard_.” Bella mumbled crossly, rolling her shoulders despite the burn that was rapidly starting to make itself known.

“You haven’t taught me that yet, but I doubt it was very flattering.” Thorin said, dropping next to her and pulling down the strap of her tank top without waiting for her to acknowledge him.

Bella barely held back a ‘meep’ of embarrassment as his fingers trailed gently over her reddened skin, “Thorin!” He had a horrible habit of appearing out of absolutely nowhere; half a minute before he sat down she could hear him arguing lowly with Gandalf off to the side. “This looks very uncomfortable.” He said.

“It’s not pleasant.” Bella mumbled, her cheeks feeling as red as her back as Thorin continued to inspect her sunburn. “But it’s really not a big deal. I’ve gotten burnt every summer since I was small.”

“Is there anything that will make it better?” He asked, and he was so close to her that some of his long hair fell over his shoulder and brushed against hers.

Her mind went a little blank as she realized just how long it’s been since she’s had anyone in her life besides Frodo. “Um…” She shook her head quickly and said, “Aloe Vera?”

Thorin looked up, “Fili, Kili,” he said sharply, “check the ponies. Oin, you and a couple of your choosing try to find some Aloe Vera. Bella said it will help her burn.”

As Fili and Kili trudged off to check on the ponies, Fili carefully depositing Frodo on Bifur’s lap, Bella felt the first sharp pang of apprehension. When had the trolls come?

She sorely hoped it wasn’t for about a week.

After Oin came back with the aloe in tow Bella thought he was going to give it to her so she could rub it on her shoulders and be done with it.

But he gave it to _Thorin_ who pushed down the other side of her shirt and carefully moved her hair over her shoulders as he spread the cooling gel over her too-hot skin. Bella tried not to make a sound; remembering the deal she had with Prim -if either of them moaned whatever was happening _stopped_ \- but it felt so fantastic that she couldn’t help the happy little sigh.

Behind her, his hands still on her back, Thorin chuckled. “Feel better?” He asked.

Bella opened her eyes slowly, not sure when she’d closed them and turned her head to look over her shoulder. Her face had to be as red as her shoulders, “I… yes.” She said, “Thank you.”

Across the camp Bombur called for someone to bring the boys their dinner and Bella nearly fell over herself to volunteer.

“I’ll bring it to them.” She said, taking the bowls and very studiously avoiding Thorin’s gaze as she scurried into the woods, where they had tied up the ponies.

“Boys?” She called, freezing when they were nowhere to be found and there were only 12 ponies.

_Trolls_.

Fili came bounding through the trees, red faced and breathing hard, “They took the ponies, Bell.” He hissed urgently.

“Who did?” She asked because she had to.

“Trolls.” Kili whispered, coming up on his brother’s side. “Uncle is going to kill us.”

“No, no, no.” Bella waved her hands, squaring her shoulders. “Take me to the trolls; we’ll see if we can fix this without anyone having to know.”

Trolls, as it turned out, were very, very large to Bella’s hobbit body. She barely came up to their knee. But that meant that she was faster than them and it would be easy to sneak around them and not be seen.

She could do this.

“Give me a knife. And keep Frodo far away from here if you can.” She whispered as the trolls started arguing about how they were going to cook the ponies. One of which was Myrtle, Bella’s pony. She really liked Myrtle. When Fili hesitated Bella dug her elbow into his ribs, “I know you have at least six on your right now, _give me a knife._ ” A gun would be preferable, not that Bella had ever shot a gun. But she'd never used a knife for anything but cooking either.

Her fingers closed around the handle and she took a deep breath before she ducked into the underbrush, reminding herself that she had written hobbits to be incredibly good sneakers. If she did not want to be seen, she wouldn’t be.

And she really, really did not want to be seen.

Bella held her breath as she crept around the trolls’ campsite, finding it strangely easy to move absolutely silently. The ponies started to make noise when they saw her but she shushed them with a few frantic eaves of her hand before swiftly cutting the rope holding their makeshift pen together. They bolted past her and Bella was just about to disappear back into the trees, thinking she was home free, when something caught her around the waist and hoisted her up.

“Oh!” She gasped as the air was punched out of her lungs.

The troll was even bigger when Bella was held up to it’s face; and it smelled like every foul thing Bella had ever come across. Thirteen unwashed dwarves had nothing on troll stink.

Fili had run off and Bella hoped that Frodo wouldn’t be brought anywhere near the current predicament.

“Wot are you?” The troll holding Bella asked.

“Belladonna.” She said quickly, “I’m very poisonous.” She’d barely gotten the last word out before she was flung to the ground so hard she cried out. Her arm twisted oddly underneath her, though it didn’t feel broken, and the wind was knocked out of her for the second time in as many minutes.

“I touched the poison!” The troll shrieked, waving it’s massive arm in the air.

“Shut up stupid!” Another troll said, shoving the first one out of the way, “Poison things can’t talk!”

“Yes we can!” Bella said, gritting her teeth against the pain in her arm as she sat up, “I am poisonous and I am talking so obviously poison things can talk!” Fili’s knife, which she had dropped when the troll picked her up, was only a few inches away and Bella was able to grab onto it and hide it behind her back without the trolls noticing.

Kili had snuck out, behind the three trolls now crowding around Bella.

“My other name is… is Deadly Nightshade.” Bella said, pushing herself to her feet and standing as tall as she was able, keeping the hidden knife behind her back. Her eyes kept darting behind the trolls, to Kili, and all she knew was that she had to _keep talking_. “People have been poisoning their husbands with me for centuries!” She said, truly hoping that trolls were stupid enough to honestly believe that she was a plant.

The others had started to arrive and Bella noticed, thankfully, that neither Dori nor Frodo were among them.

She caught Thorin’s eye and, boldened by the presence of the company, lunged forward and shoved her knife into the closest trolls leg. “Poison!” She shrieked.

As she attacked, so did the rest of the company, their own battle cries mingling on the wind. It was almost a dance, Bella realized as she twisted out of the way of one of the trolls grabbing arms, she just had to watch the others and learn the moves.

She’d always been a very good dancer.

The little knife she held in her hand wasn’t a very good defense against something as big as a troll, so most of what Bella did was try to lure the trolls into an attack of, say, Dwalin.

As it were, she was so caught up in doing that that she missed a step and stumbled right into one of the _other_ two trolls.

Bella cried out as she was lifted into the air by the back of her shirt, kicking her feet hard in an attempt to get away. “Put me _down_!” She shrieked. “My shirt will _tear_.”

“Really?” She heard Gloin mumble, “She’s worried about her clothes?”

“Hobbits are not as open as we are, brother.” Oin mumbled back.

“Drop your weapons.” The troll holding Bella roared, “Or I smash the poison into jelly!”

There was a metallic clang as Thorin’s sword hit the ground, followed by the rest of the company doing the same. Bella was mortified. “Don’t do that!” She yelled, “They’ll eat the lot of you!”

“No one will be eating anyone, I’m afraid.” Said a new voice and Bella could have wept.

“ _Gandalf._ ” She cried, wiggling even harder against the trolls hold.

“The dawn will take you all!” The wizard yelled dramatically before splitting a boulder in two and letting the new sunlight stream into the clearing.

…

…

…

“Now the troll is made of stone.” Bella said miserably, still hanging from it’s fingers, “Gandalf you did not think this plan through.” Her poor shirt wouldn’t last much - and no, no that was definitely the sound of tearing fabric and the unmistakable ache of the ground suddenly rushing up to meet her ass.

Bella’s hands flew to cover her chest as her top threatened to fall without the straps to hold it up. “You definitely didn’t think this plan through.” She hissed, sitting red faced in the dirt with a torn shirt and a sore bum.

Something heavy and soft draped over her shoulders and she clutched it tightly around her instinctively, grunting in thanks as Gandalf tried to look innocent.

“Would you have preferred to be eaten?” He asked.

“Maybe.” Bella said darkly, looking away.

This was not how the encounter with trolls was supposed to go.

“Are you alright?” Thorin asked and Bella realized that it was his coat she was wearing.

“I think so…” She mumbled, cautiously stretching out the arm she had landed on, “A little sore but nothing bad.”

“Then what the _hell_ did you think you were doing?” The sudden yelling made Bella jump and she finally looked up into the absolutely livid face of the The King Under The Mountain.

“I was trying to stop the ponies from being eaten. Which, by the way, I did.” Bella said, standing and narrowing her eyes defiantly. “So hey, mission accomplished, score one for Bella.”

“And getting yourself eaten figured into this plan… how?” Thorin asked.

“They weren’t going to _eat_ me. They thought I was poison.” This time her eyes rolled and she turned away, searching for Nori and Ori the he throng of gobsmacked dwarves; “Your brother has my nephew; where are they? Back at camp?”

They nodded silently, wary of her temper and stood stock still as she shrugged off Thorin’s coat and threw it at his face none-too-gently before pulling the ripped remains of her top over her head, happy that she’d had a bra on when she’d fallen asleep that one night because she wasn’t sure what Arda had in the way of breast bindings but she bet they weren’t nearly as comfortable or as self sufficient as her bra.

She muttered darkly under her breath as she stalked away; stupid dwarf kings. Like he hadn’t run into any potentially dangerous situations without much of a plan? Please. Thorin Oakenshield was the king of running into stupid shit. It was one of the things he was best at; getting lost and  running into danger headfirst.

“Aunt Bella!” Frodo cried, colliding with her knees a moment later. “Fili said you got captured by the trolls!”

Bella dropped to the ground, pulling her nephew into a tight hug with the arm that didn’t still ache from her fall, “I did.” She said, “But I convinced them that I was poison and they threw me away.”

“What happened to your shirt?” He asked, “Why are you running around in your bra?”

“As it turns out, two dollar cotton tank tops are not meant for holding an entire hobbit’s body weight.” Bella’s lips turned up in a wry smile. “It’s all right though. I have other shirts.”

“But that was your favorite.” Frodo said, sadly plucking at the ruined fabric. “Can’t you sew it?”

“Oh, I’m sure I could if I knew how to sew.” She poked him in the side playfully, making him giggle, “Remember the Teddy Bear Debacle last year?”

“I try not to.” Her nephew joked.

Bella outright laughed then, as the rest of the company filed back into camp. “Oh, there will be retribution for that one, mark my words.”

Gandalf came up next to them, laying a hand gently on Bella’s shoulder only to remove it when she hissed, “My dear!” He cried, “You’ve been hurt.”

“It’s just the sunburn.” Bella lied as every eye turned to her with varying degrees of concern. “I mean, I landed on this shoulder earlier but it’s fine.” Mostly fine. Nothing was broken or dislocated. So it was fine, especially by dwarf standards.

“You should let me look at it.” Oin stepped forward.

Bella shot him a dirty look, instinctively pulling that arm in close to her chest, “I’m _fine_.” She stressed.

“Well then there should be no harm in letting me look.” Oin shot back, “You’re worse than Gimli you are.”

“Aunt Bella,” Frodo whispered with big eyes, “let him look. Please?”

Bella sucked in a deep, resigned breath through her nose before nodding slowly, exhaling as Oin started poking and prodding at her shoulder and arm, careful of her sunburnt skin. Thorin’s eyes never strayed from Bella’s face, she noticed, and she kept her expression carefully neutral even as Oin made her lift and lower her arm.

It didn’t feel nice, to say the least.

“Well, it’s not broken.” Oin finally said, “I still want to wrap it.”

Bella winced; she’d been afraid of that. “Really? I’m _fine_. It’s just a pulled muscle.”

“I’m wrapping it.” He narrowed his eyes at her, firm and unyielding and Bella sighed.

Resignation, dark and stormy, settled in her gut and she held up her torn shirt, “Here. You can use this; it’s done for.”

Dori snatched it from Bella’s grip before Oin could even raise his hand to take it, “No it’s not.” He declared, “I can fix this.” He tucked it into his pocket. “You’ll have your shirt back in no time, lass.” Which, Bella was not going to lie, was some of the best news she'd heard since she'd woken up in Arda. 

If she'd  _known_ she was going to be transported to a magical land that hadn't invented denim yet, she would have packed according.

Or maybe run for her life.

“Until then,” Fili piped up, “could you put something else on?”

“Whatever that...thing… is, it uh… it doesn’t really cover much.” Kili added, keeping his eyes very firmly on the dirt.

Bella looked down at herself and blushed to the tips of her pointed ears; before she’d been too angry with Thorin to really realize exactly what she had to look like, walking around shirtless as she was. Her bra covered the really important bits but it had the added bonus of pushing breasts up nearly to her ears.

She squeaked and covered her chest with both arms. So _that_ was why Thorin had given her his coat. “Someone grab my pack, would you?” She asked pleadingly.

Ori was the one to hand it to her, looking very pointedly away, his cheeks red. He, Fili, and Kili, being the youngest members of the company besides little Frodo, were the only ones to react to Bella’s semi-nakedness but it was enough to make her want to wear several layers for the duration of the journey.

_Dwarves **!**_

After Bella was dressed in a plain white shirt that she cinched at the waist with a green vest, they went to investigate the Troll Hoard.

Bella was secretly extremely excited about it; she was dying to see what Orcrist looked like in real life. Everything else had exceeded her expectations tenfold, the beautiful elven sword of Thorin Oakenshield had to be radiant.

“Oh God,” Bella whimpered, covering her nose with one hand and attempting to regain control of her gag reflex, “what is that?” It was worse than troll stink.

Frodo came within smelling distance and promptly retreated with a cry. “ _Gross_!”

Nope, no, Bella couldn’t handle it. She ran from the cave, her stomach churning. Orcrist be damned. With one arm bound by Oin’s tight (and unnecessary) bandages Bella tried to hold her hair back with her free hand while she empties what little was in her stomach into bushes.

Frodo didn’t follow her, thankfully, probably recognizing the expression on her face from when they’d both gotten food poisoning the month before their adventure began.

That seemed so far away, now, though it had only been a few weeks. She still had no idea what they were doing in Arda, though she’d quickly accepted that she wasn’t dreaming after her rather embarrassing fainting spell in her dining room.

Basically her plan consisted of: getting Frodo to Rivendell, making Galadriel explain herself, not dying horribly, and hopefully, eventually, getting  _home_.

It was a good plan.

Simple and easy to remember.

Another pair of hands joined Bella in holding her hair back and she was seriously going to tie a bell around Thorin Oakenshield’s neck.

Right after she was done being sick.

“Sorry,” she gasped out, her throat raw and her eyes burning as her stomach finally started to settle, “I’ll be okay in a minute, don’t worry about me.”

“You have vomit in your hair.” Thorin said dryly, “That doesn’t normally mean someone is ‘fine’, Miss. Baggins.”

Bella winced. “Yes, well, that smell was bad.” She straightened her spine with a groan. “Find anything useful?”

“Mostly gold,” Bella’s shoulders stiffened at the word, “but we did find this.” He held something out to her.

A sword, about as long as Bella’s forearm and as wide as her wrist at the widest point. It was tiny in comparison to any of the others she had seen since waking up in Arda.

“It’s a little small for you, isn’t it?” She asked, plucking it from his grip with her one good arm; it was heavy, even for as little as it was.

“Which is why it’s for you. It looks about your size.” Thorin replied, lifting his coat to reveal another sword attached to his belt, “I took one as well, but this one is smaller, and lighter… it’ll serve you well should you choose to go running into another suicidal situation.”

“If it was so suicidal why did you come after me?” Bella’s eyebrows rose. “One hobbit compared to an entire company of dwarves could hardly be worth it in the grand scheme of things.”

“I wasn’t about to let you die, Miss. Baggins.” His blanched at the very idea, “Bella, I- we will always come to your aid, should you need us.”

Bella managed a small smile, even with the acrid taste of sick still in her mouth (seriously, her soul for a proper toothbrush) and her stomach still tied up in unhappy knots, “Well, I can assure you that I will probably need your assistance quite a bit. I’ve never been on an adventure before.” Unless she counted that time she road tripped across Europe with Drogo and Prim after they all earned their degrees. Which, obviously, she didn’t.

“And so you chose a dragon to be your first?”

“Well, you know what they say.” Bella laughed, “Go big or go home.” Did they say that in Arda? One would think that she would know since she’d written three books on the subject. “I have no idea how to use a sword, however, besides ‘stick ‘em with the pointy end’ so I’m not sure how useful this will be.”

“For now I think sticking them with the pointy end should suffice. And hopefully you won’t even need to do that.”

“Hopefully.” Bella agreed, “I’m still not sure about this…”

“That sword is of elvish make, Bella Baggins.” Gandalf said, wandering over to them. “That means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are near. Quite handy.”

“I’m sure it is, Gandalf, but the fact remains that before right this second I have never even held a sword in my life.”

“I’m sure one or two members of the company would be delighted to give you a few pointers.” Thorin said, “Myself included. Call it payment for the language lessons.”

“Language?” Gandalf acked curiously.

“Yes, Gandalf.” Bella said, narrowing her eyes pointedly, “I’ve been teaching Thorin and language of the hobbits.”

He seemed to catch on. “Oh, I see.” The wizard shook his head and promptly changed the subject. “Well, allow me to give you your first pointer, Miss. Baggins; sometimes courage is not knowing when to take a life, but when to spare one.”

Instead of making Bella feel a little better about her predicament (being stuck in a fictional world, on a dangerous quest, about to face off with a dragon for reasons completely unknown to her) it just made her suspicious.

Gandalf knew something the rest of them didn’t and had approximately zero inclination to share, the old codger.

But then again, Bella knew quite a bit too and she also had no plans to tell the others unless it became life or death.

“Something is coming!” Dwalin called, and Bella had never had the pleasure of watching an entire company of dwarves fall in line before.

She had been right; it was like a dance.

Though she was quickly and thoroughly distracted by a man riding a sleigh pulled by bunnies bursting through the trees.

Bella had a funny feeling that anything else appearing out of the forest so suddenly they would have been skewered in an instant, but the rest of the company was just as shocked as she was (aside from Frodo, of course, whose only reaction was a delighted squeal of, “Bunnies!” from his favorite perch in Fili’s arms.)

He was shouting about blood, and fire, and death and Bella dropped her sword to grab hold of Thorin’s sleeve, like an instinct.

“Radagast The Brown!” Gandalf welcomed the man on the sleigh warmly, “Whatever brings you here?”

Personally, Bella thought that was quite obvious; blood, and fire, and death, but Radagast paused, opened his mouth, and said, “I’ve forgotten.” He looked very distressed about it, “Oh but it was right on the tip of my tongue!”

Bella was not too proud to admit that she squeaked quite unattractively when Radagast proceeded to pull a live stickbug from his mouth. If there was anything left in her stomach, she was sure she would have been sick again. She could handle a lot of things but the smell of that cave and bugs in people’s mouths were crossing some sort of invisible line with her gag reflex.

And was that bird dung down the side of his face?

Thorin sheathed his sword before he reached over and covered her hand with his, apparently deciding that Radagast wasn’t a threat as he went off to speak with Gandalf.

Bella desperately wanted to sneak over there herself and listen in, but there were thirteen dwarves who would have followed her and she’s learned from experience that dwarves did not have a quiet bone in their body.

She’d be caught before she got any useful information.

Her eyes roamed to Frodo who was petting one of Radagast’s rabbits under the watchful and protective eyes of Fili and she smiled, “I don’t know what Fili is going to do when we drop Frodo off in Rivendell tomorrow.”

Thorin followed her gaze and his own small, small, small smile twitched his lips upward, “Pout ferociously, no doubt. Frodo reminds him of Kili when he was young.”

“Kili is still young.” Bella mumbled, “He’s what? Eighty?”

“Not even.” Thorin shook his head, “I did not want to bring them on this trip but they insisted. My sister is, of course, furious.”

“Naturally. You’re leading her children on a quest to slay a dragon.” Bella shrugged, “I’d be pissed too.” A pause and her smile turned devious, “Think Fee and Kee would let us leave them in Rivendell with Frodo?”

“Not a chance.”

The howl that echoed around them was enough to freeze Bella’s blood in her veins. It didn’t sound

natural. And it certainly wasn’t something that she had written.

“What is that?” She asked, swallowing back the bile in her throat. “A wolf?”

“No.” Dwalin grunted, “That was a warg.”

“A what?” Bella asked just as the beast in question burst out of the trees.

It was taller than Bella and twice as wide with grey, matted, grimey fur and teeth longer than her fingers and beady little eyes that seemed to zero in on her, a growl ripping through the air like the blast of a shotgun.

And oh, what she wouldn’t give for a shotgun right then. She couldn’t move, even as the warg got closer and closer to her. Running wouldn’t do her any good; that thing was definitely faster than her. Her breath got caught in her throat and the fingers of her good arm wrapped around her sword. Maybe she could hurt it before it killed her.

Then an arrow whizzed past Bella’s face, close enough to stir her hair, and lodged itself in the beast’s left eye. An arm wrapped tightly around Bella’s middle, lifting her off her feet and spinning her out of the way as the warg roared.

Bofur and Gloin bolted past Bella and Dwalin -because that was who had grabbed her- finishing the warg off almost easily.

“Frodo…!” Bella rasped, shrugging Dwalin off of her and holding her arms out for her nephew. It felt like her heart didn’t start again until he was tucked safely against her side, his face hidden in the side of her neck. “Frodo.” She sighed again, hugging him to her tightly.

“We have to go.” Thorin said from right next to Bella; he hadn’t been there the second before but Bella didn’t think she even had it in her to be surprised at that moment. “That was just a scout; more will be coming.”

“More?” Ori asked, scooting in close to Dori and grabbing onto his arm. “How many more?”

“How many wargs are in a pack?” Bella asked, faintly. She _definitely_ hadn’t written that.

“Not just wargs, lass.” Balin said gravely, “Orcs.”

“Orcs?” Frodo squeaked, “Aunt Bella there aren’t supposed to be _orcs_.”

Bella shushed him gently, agreeing with him completely. There weren’t supposed to be orcs. “What do we do?” She asked, turning to Thorin with wide eyes.

“We run.”

“We cannot outrun a group of orcs, Thorin.” Balin said softly.

Radagast stepped forward, “I will draw them away.” He declared.

Gandalf scoffed, “These are Gundabad Wargs they will catch you in a second.”

The expression on Radagast’s face was absolutely offended, “These are _Rhosgobel Rabbits_.” He said, “I’d like to see them try.”

 

 


	2. Out Of The Frying Pan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I heard about Christopher Lee first thing this morning and cried for like three hours straight and then decided to post chapter two a few days early to cheer myself up. 
> 
> Don't get used to this update schedule tbh I am not actually this reliable. 
> 
> Ask anyone who knows me for Sterek things *cough*
> 
> Also, I drew Bella - [Look how cute she is omg](http://stilesinerebor.tumblr.com/post/121637167050/the-adorable-bella-baggins-from-the-skyline-splits)

Bombur took Frodo, because as astonishing as it was, he was the fastest. Bella didn’t argue, especially as Bombur raced past them, quickly taking the lead as the rest of the company trailed behind.

Bella’s chest hurt before they even got out of the forest, her breath coming in short, painful gasps. She wasn’t sure how she was still moving, honestly, as she had lost feeling in her legs a mile or so back. She was being ushered on by pure, unadulterated fear.

She hadn’t written orcs. She had no idea what was about to happen and she didn’t like it.

“Aunt Bella!” Frodo shrieked over Bombur’s shoulder, “Faster!”

Bella would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire - or if she had the air. Instead she waved a hand to show that she had heard him and pushed herself a little bit harder.

Bofur looked back at her and slowed his pace until she caught up before catching her hand and speeding up again, giving her no choice but to keep up.

“Quickly!” Gandalf yelled and Bella wished she could shoot something incredibly sarcastic back at him.

No, they were just going to take a leisurely stroll, Gandalf, it’s fine really.

Bella nearly tripped over her own feet when Bofur suddenly pulled her behind a very large rock. As she tried to catch her breath she did a quick headcount; everyone was accounted for.

Thirteen dwarves, two hobbits that weren’t really hobbits, and a wizard.

From their position they could hear the wargs howling and the the orcs yelling as they chased Radagast and his rabbits; he had been quite right in his assumption that Rhosgobel Rabbits could lead the orcs on a wild goose chase.

Thorin’s arm came out suddenly, reaching across Bella’s shoulders and pressing her back against the rock as his eyes rolled upward. Bella followed his gaze and sucked in a silent breath, locking it in her throat to hold back the shout of alarm.

There was an ord rider on top of the rock. He hadn’t seen them yet, but he was there.

Kili pulled an arrow from his quiver and Bella desperately wanted to reach out and pull him back in as he stepped forward and fired once, twice, three times at the orc and warg.

They tumbled off the rock, shrieking, and Bifur, Dwalin, and Fili descended upon them.

Gandalf’s eyes flew to the East where the sounds of the riders following Radagast abruptly changed directions; if Bella had to guess they were heading straight towards the company. She swore quietly and locked eyes with Frodo.

“Hold on as tight as you can. Keep your eyes closed and your head down, do you hear me?” She hissed urgently. When Frodo just nodded jerkily she shook her head, “I need you to say it Frodo. Do you understand?”

“I understand.” He whispered and then obediently ducked his head as they started moving again. Faster than before, Bella being pulled along by both Bofur and Thorin this time. Her feet caught on loose rocks and she stumbled several times, but they never let her falter, never let her fall. They kept her moving, even as the orcs howled behind them… and in front of them.

“This way!” Gandalf yelled, suddenly changing direction.

The company followed unquestioningly but it didn’t matter; there were orcs coming from every direction.

“We’re surrounded!” Bella yelled, spinning in a frantic circle.

“Kili!” Thorin roared, somewhere to Bella’s left, “Shoot them! The rest of you: close ranks around Bombur and Frodo!”

Bella’s eyes locked on the king, her astonished gratitude plastered plainly on her face and she moved in closer, taking her place with the rest of the company in a tight circle around her nephew and friend. She may have been rubbish with a sword, and down an arm, but she had a sword and it was a small chance of protecting her family that she would take.

“Where’s Gandalf?” Ori cried, raising his slingshot in front of him (it took everything Bella had not to shove him into the center of the circle with Bombur and Frodo).

“He has abandoned us.” Dwalin replied when the wizard was nowhere to be seen.

Bella frowned; no that wasn’t right. Gandalf wouldn’t abandon them; there was something they weren’t seeing.

Where were they?

“ _This way_ , you fools!” The wizard himself popped up from behind a rock that was far too short to have hidden him on his own.

_The tunnel!_

The secret entrance to Rivendell!

Bella shoved Ori in front of her -at least she had a weapon- before following the rest of the company, her eyes locked on Bombur’s back and the area around him, ready to shout in a second if anything came close.

“Inside, all of you!” Thorin yelled giving Bella a nudge when she stopped next to him. “Inside!” He told her.

“Where’s…” She whispered, breaking off as her eyes landed on Kili who had straggled behind, still firing off arrows as quickly as his bow would move, “Kili! Come on!”

The youngest Durin turned on his heel and hauled ass, catching up with his brother as the slid until the tunnel.

Bella followed then, not sparing another glance for their pursuers; the elves would dispatch them accordingly.

Thorin came behind her, and Gandalf pointed at them both and said, “Fourteen, fifteen. Everyone is accounted for.” As the horn that signified the elves’ arrival sounded.

Bella’s shoulders relaxed and she stepped over to Bombur, carefully prying her nephew away from him with her good arm, whispering a few soft words until  Frodo turned and clung to her like a koala, burying his face in her neck, his shoulders shaking as he cried quietly.

“I’m sorry, firefly.” She whispered, her heart breaking, “I’m so sorry.” He shouldn’t have had to go through something like that; not then, not ever. “There weren’t supposed to be orcs.” She said to Gandalf brokenly, her own eyes stinging with tears.

Gandalf only stared at her sadly in return.

Rivendell was easily the most beautiful thing Bella had ever seen; a city built into the mountains, surrounded by water so it almost looked like it was floating.

“The valley of Imladris.” Bella whispered, nudging Frodo to lift his head, “Look, firefly. The Last Homely House East of The Sea.”

Frodo’s delighted gasp lightened her heart just a little, enough that she wasn’t completely drowning in the guilt of having gotten him into this mess.

“This was your plan all along.” Thorin accused Gandalf, his face set in something angry and stubborn, “You want us to seek refuge with our enemy.”

Bella rolled her eyes, far too tired and far too hungry, and far too _done_ to put up with any of Thorin Oakenshield’s dramatics regarding elves, “These elves are not your enemy.” She said, “If you want to be angry with Thranduil, fine, be angry with Thranduil. From what I heard he’s a bit of a jackass anyway. But Lord Elrond has done absolutely nothing to you, Thorin Oakenshield.” Bella stepped forward, rolling her shoulders, “I for one, am looking forward to good food and an actual bed. So you can just suck it up and try not to be such an intolerable asshole.”

“Miss. Baggins is correct.” Gandalf said with a barely constrained air of amusement, “The only ill will you will find here is that which you bring yourself. This is going to require tact, diplomacy, and no small degree of charm.” He looked between Thorin and Bella, “You’d better leave the talking to us, Thorin.”

“ _All_ of the talking.” Bella stressed, “Stand in the back and look majestic. That’s about all you’re good for in this situation.”

Rivendell was even prettier up close, even with Thorin sulking at the back of the company, and Bella couldn’t keep down the noises of wonder that kept rising in the back of her throat even if she tried.

“If you like this,” Nori said from her right, “wait until you see Erebor. It’ll make this look like a shack in the woods.”

Bella thought of Beorn’s house and how that had always been her favorite scene in any of her books. “I’m sure there are a few perfectly charmings shacks in the woods.”

The dwarves huddled together, looking out of place and awkward in the elvish territory. Thorin in particular looked like he had eaten a whole bag of lemons, skin and all and Bella had to hide a smile as she adjusted Frodo on her hip.

Save her from the stubbornness of dwarves.

Gandalf greeted their welcoming party fondly and in Sindarin; Bella didn’t understand what they were saying, the spoke so quickly, but she did definitely hear when Dwalin mumbled something that sounded distinctly like “Tree Shagger” to Thorin.

 _D w a r v e s_.

“Do we get to meet Elrond?” Frodo asked, loudly, his face awed at even the possibility. He’d always had a certain fondness for the elves. “I want to meet Elrond!”

“Lord Elrond is not here.” The head elf, Lindir Bella believed his name was, announced.

There was a ripple of outrage throughout the gathered dwarves in the split second before the same elven horn as before sounded.

Bella smiled down at Frodo, “Yes, dear, you get to meet Lord Elrond. But remember your manners. Try to greet him a little more politely than you greeted Thorin, huh?”

Frodo’s little face flushed at the memory, “Well you would have smacked him if he had kept it up.”

“I most certainly would have.” Bella agreed, looking up to narrow her eyes pointedly at the staring king, “And I will smack him in the ass with my sword if he doesn’t behave himself now, he may be _a_ king, but he is not _my_ king and I will rough him up but good if he doesn't remember _his_ manners.”

Thorin looked away before Bella could discern the expression on his face, quickly schooling it into something more akin to absolute loathing as Lord Elrond and his company came into sight.

“Close ranks!” Thorin yelled for the second time that afternoon and then Bofur was grabbing Bella’s arm and pulling her and Frodo into the center, much like Bombur and Frodo had been before Gandalf had drawn their attention to the tunnel.

He yelled something else in Khuzdul that Bella didn’t understand. She had only written a few words and phrases which had apparently not even grazed the surface of the actual language.

And _wow_ horses were very, very large when one was very, very small. Out of the corner of her eye Bella saw Dwalin’s arm shoot out and press against Ori’s chest and very nearly reached out herself to pull him in; she probably would have, honestly, if her one shoulder wasn’t still wrapped and her good arm wasn’t holding Frodo.

They were surrounded by elves, which Bella thought was a right sight better than being surrounded by orcs but the company was treating them like one and the same.

Ridiculous dwarves.

Lord Elrond greeted Gandalf warmly and they started talking in Sindarin again and Bell really needed to learn the language. The only word she recognized was ‘Mellon’ - friend.

 _“Mé nach ... muinín .. air._ ” Thorin whispered to her, speech halting as he tried to string words together in a language he was still learning.

“I know.” Bella hissed back, “Get over it.”

“Strange for orcs to come this close to our boarders.” Elrond finally spoke in Common, his eyes locked on Bella and Thorin.

“I’m afraid that may have been our fault.” Gandalf said, looking sheepish and gesturing to the dwarves and hobbits gathered around him.

Thorin stepped forward and to the left, putting himself between Bella and Frodo again, even when not in the face of real danger. It made Bella’s stomach flip the slightest bit.

“Welcome,” Elrond said, “Thorin, son of Thrain.”

Thorin’s shoulders tensed and Bella inched forward, pressing her injured shoulder against his back gently as she couldn’t very well grab onto him. He needed to be polite.

“Have you met before?” She asked when it became clear that Thorin wasn’t going to be able to say anything that wasn’t rude as an orc.

Elrond’s eyes turned to her, “I knew his grandfather when he was king under the mountain. Thorin reminds me of Thror greatly.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” Bella said at the same time Thorin mumbled, “Funny, he never mentioned you.”

Bella could have slapped her forehead in frustration as Elrond rumbled something in Sindarin that Bella actually recognized.

“Does he offer us insult?!” Gloin roared, stepping forward with his axe.

“No, he does not.” Bella snapped, thoroughly done with overly combative dwarves, “He’s offering us food, and Frodo and I are going to gladly take him up on his offer if you don’t mind.”

“I’m hungry.” Frodo agreed.

And let it be known, if anyone ever had a desire to watch a group of grown ass elves lose their collective minds, show them a baby hobbit.

Bella was, personally, thrilled at the abundance of green food, even if her dwarven companions were less than so. Not to say that Bombur wasn’t a great cook, it’s just that there were less than stellar culinary conditions on the road and Bella hadn’t so much as seen a carrot in nearly a month.

Frodo was quickly spirited away by Fili and Kili who were preparing themselves to say goodbye to their little friend once they departed Rivendell, Lord Elrond having agreed to care for the fauntling without an ounce of hesitation.

Elves apparently _really_ liked tiny hobbits.

“What is this?” Ori asked, holding up a leaf of lettuce like he was expecting it to explode.

“It’s lettuce.” Bella answered, trying to reach for her wine without stretching her shoulders too much; now that the adrenaline and well and truly worn off she was feeling the effects of her sunburn in full force.

“Try it.” Dori pleaded as he retrieved Bella’s glass for her and pressed it into her hand, returning the grateful smile she gave him, “Just a mouthful.” He said, turning to his little brother again.

“I don’t like green food.” Ori said stubbornly.

“Even Frodo is eating it.” Bella said innocently, “And he’s a lot younger than you. You can’t be shown up by a six year old hobbit, Ori.”

She didn’t catch what Ori said back as he reluctantly shoved a bite of lettuce into his mouth, wincing like it was killing him, as that was when Thorin, Elrond, and Gandalf chose to make their appearance.

Thorin scanned the table until his eyes landed on her and Dori quickly moved over to give their king room to sit.

Bella’s eyebrows rose as Thorin lowered himself beside her, “Shouldn’t you sit with Gandalf and Elrond?”

“Was it not you who told me not to talk to him?” Thorin shot back and Bella laughed.

“Yes, yes I suppose it was.” Bella ducked her head, pushing a bit of her filthy hair behind her ear, “Remind me to ask Lord Elrond about a bath.”

“Bedrooms with adjoining washrooms will be provided for you and the rest of your company, Miss. Baggins.” Elrond replied and Bella nearly jumped out of her skin.

Was that a requirement to rule in Arda; “Must be able to scare unsuspecting hobbits half to death”?

“My apologies, my lord.” Bella nodded in his direction, “If I had thought you were able to hear me all the way over there I would have addressed you directly.”

“It’s quite alright.” Elrond smiled, “I will also send a healer to your room to have a look at your shoulder, if it’s agreeable?”

Bella blinked slowly before tilting her head down to peer at her wrapped arm, “Oh, it’s really not a big deal. I fell on it the other night and bruised it quite terribly, but it’s fine.”

“So then why do you grimace whenever you move?” Elrond asked and Bella flushed when she realized that every eye was on her.

“I uh… I got sunburned?” She nearly squeaked, resisting the urge to sink down in her chair. “I’m fine, really. I have… aloe in my bag that I can rub on it.”

“I have embarrassed you.” Elrond ducked his head, “My apologies.” He turned to Thorin. “The sword that Gandalf mentioned, may I see it?” Bella relaxed as the attention moved from her to her companion.

Thorin looked like he wanted nothing less than to let the elf lord touch his sword but Bella elbowed him in the side with her good arm and he relented with a grunt, pulling the sword from his belt and passing it down the table.

Elrond hummed taking the blade and holding it up to the light, “This is Orcrist.”

“The goblin cleaver.” Bella said without thinking, earning herself quite a few sharp looks from the company. “What?” She asked defensively, “I’m a writer.”

“Aunt Bella knows a lot about a little.” Frodo piped up from Fili’s lap, having eaten all he wanted and decided to curl up in the older brother’s lap and play with his hair. He frowned. “Or is it a little about a lot?”

“The second one.” Bella said, smiling, “Thank you, Frodo.”

Frodo threw her a thumbs up before going back to trying to braid the end of Fili’s hair while Kili turned in his chair and started to do the same to Frodo’s.

Bella’s eyebrows flew to her hairline; Frodo playing with Fili’s hair was one thing, he was too little to know better. But _Kili._ Kili was a full grown dwarves and for them braiding was a family thing.

They never braided the hair of anyone that they didn’t consider family.

“I think your nephews adopted mine.” She whispered to Thorin when Elrond passed Orcrist back.

He followed her gaze and his face went slack in surprise.

“You cant tell me you didn’t see that coming?” Bella said, “I mean, he’s always with either Fee or Kee. Always.”

Unless they were running for their lives from orcs which Bella sorely hoped they would never have to do again. She had been prone to panic attacks since Prim and Drogo died and nothing said ‘panic’ quite like a pack of orcs. She’d been intent on protecting Frodo the last time, with her nephew safely in Rivendell she would have nothing to keep her focused.

“Miss. Baggins, Gandalf tells me you also acquired a sword from the troll hoard?” Elrond asked, leaning over slightly to peer at her.

Bella blinked and looked down at her waist where her sword sat.

“I don’t know if you can call it a sword,” Balin said, sending her a friendly wink, “more like a letter opener.”

The company laughed, Bella included, and she dropped her jacket back over her sword, smiling warmly at Elrond, “I think I’d like to discover my letter opener for myself. The names you have for them seem to be a bit overachieving for a hobbit.”

“Even a hobbit that goes head to head with uncle?” Kili teased from across the table.

“It’s more like head to shoulder.” Bella said dryly. “But yes, even a hobbit who can sass the king under the mountain.”

“Not quite a king.” Elrond mused.

Before the rest of the company could react, Bella turned to him, her eyes narrowed and her voice sharp, “I’m sorry, Lord Elrond, I thought I heard you say something incredibly ignorant, but that couldn’t have possibly been _you_. You’re smarter than that, aren’t you?” Elrond opened his mouth, “A king without a kingdom is still a king as long as his people remain loyal to him which, obviously, they have.”

“I am… sorry to have offended you so greatly.” Gobsmacked was not a good look for the lord of Rivendell.

“You did not offend _me_ , Lord Elrond.”  Bella’s expression was expectant as she stared Elrond down. “I am not the dwarf to whom you owe an apology.” She wasn’t a dwarf at all, but that wasn’t her point.

The sight of an elf, more than that an elf lord, apologizing to a dwarf was something no one in the room had ever seen before. But Elrond did it and he meant it (for the heart of a hobbit was not easily won, and once it was there was something to be said for the character of the creature who accomplished it).

The dwarves of Thorin Oakenshield’s company were a rowdy bunch, that much was certain, but they were also the biggest, strongest, fiercest family that Bella Baggins had ever seen. They build a fire, right there in the middle of the elven courtyard, once everyone was fed and bathed and wearing clean clothes.

There was a bed waiting for Bella in Elrond’s house but there was also a group of dwarves who, for some reason, craved her company. So after she and Frodo were clean she tousled his curls, twisted her own hair into what could almost be called a bun, and dressed them both quickly before padding down the stairs and following the loud shouts of her company to the yard they’d chosen for their merriment.

They cheered when she arrived and she laughed, exaggerating a curtsey before settling herself next to Bofur and watching Frodo scamper around and egg Fili, Kili, and Gloin into chasing him.

“How’s your shoulder, lass?” Bofur asked; she hadn’t rewrapped it after her bath.

“It’s alright.” She rolled it for emphasis, “A little sore but nothing that won’t work itself out in a day or so.”

“And that burn?” He pressed.

Bella pursed her lips. “Did Oin put you up to this?”

“No.” Bofur shook his head, “‘m just worried about you. Don’t want you to get hurt is all.”

And now she felt bad, “I’m sorry.” She sighed, deflating, “I’m tired. I didnt mean to be rude. My sunburn hurts but it’s also something that needs to sort itself out.”

“There’s nothing we can do for it?”

“I’ve been putting aloe on it, but other than that no.” Bella shook her head, pushing a strand of damp hair that had escaped her bun behind her ear. “I’ve just got to wait for it to go away.” She motioned to her dress, loose, pale green, and obviously elvish. “It’s why I put this on; it’s softer and lighter.” It didn’t rub against her abused skin quite so badly.

“I wasn’t going to say anything about that.” Bofur grinned at her as he stood,“But I’ve gotta say, lass, you make elf clothes look almost good.”

Bella laughed as he danced away to join in the fun, covering her mouth with her hand.

“Bella!” Kili froze in his tracks as he ran past her in his pursuit of Frodo, “What did you do?”

“What?” Bella blinked, looking up at him. He looked older in the flickering light of the fire, shadows crossing his face and giving him the appearance of age. “I took a bath and put on clean clothes?”

“But your _hair_!” He sounded almost pained, “It’s a...lump.”

“It’s wet and in the way. I would cut it if I had scissors around.” She said truthfully.

Every single dwarf within earshot turned to her with identical horrified expressions.

“You can’t cut your hair!” Ori said, “It’s such pretty hair.”

“It’s hardly practical on a journey like this.” It hadn’t been clean since she left the Shire, and the snarls she had had to untangle were a nightmare. She hadn’t had short hair since she was about nineteen and had cut it to her shoulders on a whim. A graduation present to herself.

“You can’t cut it.” Dwalin repeated, Bifur nodding quickly next to him.

“I understand that dwarves are very particular about their hair, but I don’t have the skill that you do when it comes to taming it.”

Kili paused for a moment before stepping around Bella carefully and pulling free the leather strap she had tying her hair back, leaving it free to flow around her shoulders. “We will help.” He said softly, and the rest of the company made their agreement known.

Bella paused for a moment, her mouth opening and closing, before she nodded silently. They were just being nice, she figured, and they _really_ didn’t want her to cut her hair.

“Does this make Aunt Bella your sister?” Frodo asked innocently, clinging to Fili’s legs, “Because that would make you all my uncles and that would be awesome.”

As Bella gaped at her little nephew, Fili picked the fauntling up and tickled his sides, “Would it be awesome?” He asked as Frodo shrieked, “Would it? Huh?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Frodo squealed , wiggling, trying to get away from Fili’s relentless fingers.

Bella laughed despite herself, tilting her head back and smiling at Kili when his fingers started to work through her hair, “You don’t have to worry about it tonight.” She said, “But when we get back on the road I would be honored if you would help me with it.”

Kili absolutely beamed, leaning down and pressing his forehead to Bella’s. “ _Namaduh_.” That word Bella knew.

“ _Nadad_.” She said back, laughing again at Kili’s stunned expression; the merriment had returned to full swing after Fili and Frodo’s tickle war began so only the youngest Durin heard her speak the secret language of the dwarves, “You and Fili are not subtle with your use of Khuzdul.” She reached up and tapped his nose, “I picked it up.”

“Kili!” Fili called, on the ground with Frodo sitting on his chest, “Kili, I need backup!”

Kili laughed, backing away from Bella. “I’m sorry, M’lady, but duty calls.”

“I await your return with bated breath.” Bella told him very seriously, grinning after him as he raced away to save his brother from two feet of attack hobbit.

“You’re encouraging him.” Thorin said, taking Bofur’s empty seat and offering her a tankard of ale.

Bella wrapped her fingers around the mug, marveling at how large it was in her hobbit hands, “Yes, well, he deserves a little bit of encouragement every now and then.” She said, turning her head and smiling at the king, “And Frodo is enjoying it greatly.”

Thorin made a noise of agreement, “I was wondering if you would accompany Gandalf and I in our meeting with the elf tomorrow night.” He stated and wow, he didn’t ease into anything did he?

“Me?” Bella was so surprised she nearly choked on her ale, “Why?” She asked, “I mean, of course, yes, I’d be delighted. But why?”

“I do not trust the wizard and I do not trust the elf. Another pair of eyes on my side would be most agreeable.”

Bella hummed thoughtfully, “Why don’t you trust Gandalf?”

“He knows far more than he lets on.” Thorin replied and Bella nearly laughed.

In that case, he shouldn’t trust her very much at all. Though, she recently decided that she was going to use her knowledge to keep them all alive for as long as she was able.

She knew how the story of Thorin and his nephews ended and it was not a happy end.

She intended to change that.

“I’ll go.” She said, nodding once, “Of course I will go.” For no other reason than he asked her to, she would go. “I am glad that you trust me so much but would Kee or Fee not be the better choice?”

“They are young.” Thorin answered, “And they are impulsive. And they are also not the ones who defended me to Elrond earlier this evening though they made it clear not an hour before that they owe me no loyalty.”

Bella ducked her head, thankful for the first time that Kili had let her hair down as it fell forward to cover her burning cheeks, “It was an uncalled for and very rude comment.” She said, “And I feel… I feel as if I will react the same to anyone who insults you.”

“You insult me all the time.” Thorin pointed out.

“Yes, well,” Bella shrugged a shoulder, “I am me, and you are an ass.”

“Bella!” Nori called from his spot with his brothers before Thorin could respond, “It’s your turn!”

Her turn? “For what?” She yelled back.

“For a song.” Frodo exclaimed, coming out of nowhere and crashing into Bella’s legs. “They don’t believe me that you sing good because you never sing for them.” He stopped and frowned, “Why don’t you ever sing for them?”

“I…” Bella stopped, “It never came up?” She said. “We haven’t spoken of any songs I know since the beginning of our journey.”

“Well, we’re bringing it up now.” Dwalin grunted. “What are some Hobbit songs?”

“That dwarves would enjoy?” Bella asked with a laugh, “I’m really not sure.”

“What about the one you mentioned before?” Bofur asked, “School a rune?”

Little Frodo looked so mightily offended that Bella wished she had a camera to keep that particular expression forever, “ _Siuil A Run_!” He corrected.

“It’s mostly in a language you don’t know.” She admitted, “Except Thorin. He’d pick up a few words here or there but…” But it was the kind of song that had always made her want to dance around a fire, under the stars, in a flowing skirt.

She was currently sitting in front of a fire, under the stars, in a elven city…

So she opened her mouth and she sang, softly at first, and then louder. Of love and heartbreak, and trading petticoats for swords, and sitting on hills and crying until you couldn’t cry anymore.

The beginning of the song was slow, but as it picked up she stood and offered her hand to Frodo. They would often dance together while cooking or cleaning or just because a song they liked came on the radio.

She was careful to keep him away from the flames as they twirled. The dwarves picked up on the chorus quickly enough, though the words meant nothing to them, and soon they sang along with her, standing and joining her in the dance.

It didn’t feel like anything she’d seen from the dwarves before; they seemed to have very specific dances for specific songs. This felt wild, and free. Almost like flying.

The only one who did not join in the dancing was the king himself and that just wouldn’t do. Bella made sure that Frodo was happily swinging between Fili and Kili before she let her feet take her to Thorin, still sitting where she had started.

“Come.” She told him as the company sang behind her, “They share in your perils, you shall share in their laughter.” She held out her hand, expecting him to argue with her.

Instead, he took her hand and stood, his smile hesitant. “Show me?” He nodded his head to the dancing dwarves behind her.

Bella laughed, delighted, and pulled him into the throng, picking up on the song like she’d never halted her singing in the first place.

Thorin surprised her again, looping one arm around her waist and taking her hand with the other. Bella didn’t let it daunt her, moving again as easily as flowing water and coaxing Thorin gently until he moved with her.

They kept the song going far longer than it usually would have; repeating the chorus over and over until they tired, and then they looked at Bella expectantly.

Demanding another song.

Another chance to fly.

And with a laugh, she gave it to them.

* * *

All the meeting with Elrond did was put Thorin in a truly foul mood and tell them all what Bella, at least, already knew.

They had to make to Erebor by the last light of Durin’s Day because that light, and only that light, would reveal the hole for the key.

Without that light there was no point in even going to Erebor because they wouldn’t be able to get in.

But Bella did not get to speak to Galadriel, though she was almost certain that she was in Rivendell. Gandalf refused to tell her anything besides the fact that Galadriel had in fact been the one to send for Bella and that she would find out why _in time_. It wasn't an answer that she particularly wanted to hear, though it was the one she had half expected. 

Before leaving with the company Elrond had pulled her aside and offered her a place amongst them, though he seemed to know she would not take it.

“Know this then, Bella Baggins of the Shire,” he smiled like he knew something she didn’t, which he most definitely did, “there will always be a place in Rivendell for you.”

She’d laughed it off, “I’ll definitely take you up on that for a few days when I come to pick up Frodo.”

 _That_ goodbye had nearly killed her- had nearly killed them all. Frodo hated goodbyes; he’d said goodbye to his parents one morning and then never seen them again; it was understandable, which is why Bella gathered him in close as he sniffled.

“Listen, firefly.” She told him as Fili and Kili crowded in close to her to coo their own farewells, “This is not so long, goodbye, auf wiedersehen, or farewell. This is simply, ‘I’ll see you later’.” She promised him. “A ‘catch you on the flipside’ kind of thing.” From behind her she heard the dwarves start to mutter about ‘strange hobbit sayings’ and she almost laughed. “Alright?”

Frodo hesitated, then nodded. “Okay.”

Fili and Kili took turns hugging the life out of him with promises of games they would play when they next saw him and of tales they would tell, then the rest of the company passed him around, making similar vows and by the time he got to Thorin he was nearly in tears again as he hugged the king as tightly as he was able.

“You’ll come see me too, right?” He asked, “You won’t be so busy kinging that you’ll forget about me?”

“I will not forget you, _inùdoy kurdulu_.” Things were certainly serious when Thorin Oakenshield busted out the Khuzdul.

Bella was very seriously thinking of refusing to teach him any more “hobbit” until he began teaching her Khuzdul in return.

“What does that mean? Frodo asked.

“It means that you are very special to me.” Thorin replied, pressing a kiss to Frodo’s curls before passing him back to Bella. “We will let you have a moment alone.” He said, very seriously. “Take as long as you need.”

Bella nearly collapsed under the weight of her relief, clutching Frodo to her tightly as the dwarves filed out to wait for her. As soon as the door shut behind Bifur Frodo was crying

“Save them!” He said into Bella’s shoulder as she rocked him. “Why did you kill them? You have to save them, Aunt Bella, you can’t let them die! You can’t!”

“Shhh.” Bella rubbed her hand up and down Frodo’s back gently, “I’m not going to let them die.” She promised, “I could not even if I wanted to. The sons of Durin will survive this if I have anything to say about it.”

She just wasn’t entirely sure that she would have anything to say about it.

The journey from Rivendell to The Misty Mountains took the better part of three days. By the time they reached the mountains themselves it was pouring down rain and getting dark but Thorin wanted to press on.

Bella was having exactly none of it.

“Thorin.” She shoved past Bofur and Kili, noting with a bit of smug pride how the rest of the company parted for her of their own accord, “Thorin, you cannot be serious.” She had to shout to be heard over the rain.

“You heard Lord Elrond; we have until-”

“Until the last light of Durin’s day, yes.” Bella waved her hand, “I was there. But it’s not going to matter if we all fall to our death trying to _scale a mountain in the middle of a monsoon!”_

Thorin opened his mouth to argue but Balin (bless Balin and his apparently un-dwarven ability to process things logically) cut in, “I think our burglar may be right. The rain is only going to get heavier as the storm moves east.”

“Slow and steady wins the race, Thorin.” Bella added. It also didn’t get them caught in the rock giant’s fight, which was something that Bella actively wanted to avoid. “It also doesn’t end up a _pancake_ at the bottom of a mountain.”

Bella nearly cowed under the weight of Thorin’s glare; since their discussion with Elrond he had been on the warpath, particularly where the (now) only hobbit in the company was concerned, but she was made of tougher stuff than most hobbits.

Mostly because she wasn’t a hobbit.

And if she was going to go up against a _dragon_ for him he was going to treat her with some goddamn respect. “I don’t know what I did to piss you off, Master Oakenshield, but I am not getting lost up there because you couldn’t wait for the rain to stop!” Bella yelled; she was wet, tired, cold, hungry, and had just left her nephew with a bunch of elves she didn’t know. She was in _no_ mood to deal with the kings bullshit.

“You’ve been lost since you left home!” Thorin yelled back, his face thunderous. “You never should have come with us, I don’t know what Gandalf was thinking!”

“Uncle!” Fili and Kili both gasped in outrage.

Bofur and Bifur looked like they would have actually punched the king had Bombur not grabbed their arms.

Oin and Gloin were uncomfortable.

Ori was scandalized, Nori was plotting something, and Dori was scowling very angrily at Thorin’s back.

Even Balin and Dwalin looked unhappy.

It was nice to know she had the company on her side when she eventually and inevitably stabbed Thorin in the thigh with a fork.

_He had it coming, he had it coming, he only had himself to blame…_

“You know what,” Bella hissed, “I _don’t_ belong here. I am not a dwarf, I am not a warrior, I am _barely_ a burglar. I am tired, I am cold, I am wet, I am already missing my nephew terribly, not to mention having a bed. And you know what, _here I am_! Lord Elrond flat out told me that I would be more than welcome to stay in Rivendell should I choose and yet _here I am_ , trying to stop your ungrateful ass from toppling off a mountain like you’re a goddamn toddler that I am responsible for.” When she finally paused for breath the entire company was deathly quiet, “I noticed a cave when we came in. It’s literally four feet to your left, Thorin.” She said very calmly, “That’s where I will be. The rest of you are, of course, welcome to join me.”

She dropped her wet pack and oilskin the second she got inside, grinning wearily at Fili and Kili when they followed her without hesitation; Thorin was not going to like that. But then, maybe he should learn not to be such a raging douche for no good reason.

“How mad is he?” She asked as the rest of the company slowly filed in; first the Ur’s, then the Ri’s, then Oin and Gloin. Balin, Dwalin, and Thorin were suspiciously absent.

“Balin and Dwalin are trying to convince him that venturing onward on his own, in this weather, is as good as suicide.”

Bella sighed, shaking out her hair; it had remained mostly dry thanks to her hood, but it was a nightmare of frizz and snarls. “ _Idiot._ ” She mumbled. “He’s going to catch his death if he stays out there much longer.”

“Maybe he’s worried he’ll catch it faster if he comes within a few feet of you, lass.” Dori commented from where he’d settled himself on the ground.

“I’d take a dragon over you angry any day.” Bofur agreed.

“Oh, please.” Bella rolled her eyes, “You’re such a dramatic lot.”

Oin huffed, “Maybe sometimes, but I saw the bruise you left on Kili when he startled you last week.”

Bella shifted a little uneasily; she hadn’t meant hit so hard.  “I’ll go talk to Thorin.” She finally sighed, wincing at the pull in her shoulders.

The worst of her sunburn had faded, now she was just worried that when she took her shirt off half the skin on her back would go with it.

She would hate to see Ori’s reaction to that.

In retrospect she probably should have grabbed her oilskin - no, she definitely should have grabbed it, but she was soaked like a drowned cat the second after she realized she should have grabbed it and so it didn’t matter anyways.

Thorin was a little ways away, arguing loudly with Balin and Dwalin; so loudly that she could almost hear his bellowing even over the weather.

Bella bit back a swear; he was going to get all _three_ of them sick and something told her that dwarves with colds would be even more obnoxious than normal dwarves.

She made her way over, pushing away the hair that had been plastered to her face as soon as she’d stepped out of the cave, carefully stepping around the large rocks that would surely send her sprawling should she catch her foot on one.

It wasn’t hard to imagine what Thorin would say about that.

Her face fell into a frown and she basically stomped the rest of the way to the arguing dwarves, gently settling her hands on Balin and Dwalin’s shoulders, offering them small smiles, not missing the way Thorin had abruptly stopped talking the second he saw her, “Go inside where it is warm.” She told them, shaking her head when they began to protest, “I will handle Thorin; it’s my fault he’s out here pouting anyhow.” The king very nearly _growled_ at that one.

She waited until the brothers were ducking into the low ceilinged cave (it was perfect for her hobbit height) before she turned back to Thorin and threw her arms out, “What did I do?” She asked, a little helplessly.

A lot helplessly.

She didn’t want Thorin to hate her, she had thought they were getting along just fine, especially after she had taught everyone her “hobbit songs”. She’d even caught the king humming _Siuil A Run_ under his breath a time or two.

But he wouldn’t even look her in the face now.

Bella’s eyes stung. “What did I do?” She repeated. “Because I don’t… I can’t go on like this. You’ve barely spoken a word to me since we spoke with Elrond and I don’t know what I did to offend you so horribly but I can’t take it, Thorin.” Her voice caught in her throat. “What did I do?”

Thorin finally, finally looked at her, and though she could barely see his face between the darkness of the night and the thick curtain of rain, she could see his eyes. They glittered sharply in the lightning and they stared right at her for the first time in days. “You…” He stopped and looked away again and Bella wanted to weep.

“What. Did. I. Do?”

He still didn’t answer.

She wanted to punch him. She was going to punch him. Right in that stupid, royal nose of his.

The actual blow was more of a slap but it rang in the air, seemingly louder than the thunder that still continued to rumble above them. Her hand stung with the force of it the blow but she still reared back to hit him again.

Thorin caught her hand, his expression shrouded in the darkness and the long curtain of his hair but Bella assumed it was thunderous.

Oh god. She had hit him, Yes, there’s a great idea, Bella. Hit the man with the sword, who knew how to use the sword, and who didn’t really like you in the first place. That was a brilliant idea.

She opened her mouth, though she had no idea what she was going to say to talk him out of skewering her on Orcrist, but it didn’t matter.

She never got the chance to speak because the next second Thorin’s mouth was sealing over hers, one hand still wrapped firmly around her wrist while the other snuck around her to clutch at the back of her soaked shirt before it slipped under the fabric and spread, hot and heavy, across the skin of her lower back.

Bella floundered for a second, trying to register what exactly was going on, before she melted into the solid wall of muscle that was Thorin Oakenshield. Her free hand went to his hair, tangling her fingers in the wet strands as she stood on the very tips of her toes to get closer.

His lips were searing hot compared to how cold everything else around them was, and Bella couldn’t help but wish they were everywhere.

Which was dangerous thinking.

She broke the kiss, her eyes shooting open. He looked beautiful standing there, illuminated by the storm. She was still so close that she could see the rain dripping from his eyelashes. His hands were almost burning hot where they touched her skin and she needed to pull away almost as much as she wanted to drown herself in him and never come up for air.

“What…?” Bella started to ask but a light from under Thorin’s coat caught her eye and thoroughly distracted her. She wrenched the fabric to the side, the full brunt of the sword’s glow hitting her head in the face. “Blue…” She whispered, her gaze flying up to meet Thorin’s equally wide eyes before she took off back towards the cave, Thorin hot on her heels as she shrieked “GOBLINS!” as loud as she could.

The reached the others just as the ground caved in, and it was a long way down into the goblin’s underground tunnels.

Somewhere along the way Bella got separated from the others, crashing into the wall harshly and then sliding down a smaller, narrower tunnel, the rough sides catching her clothes and tearing at her skin.

She landed in a heap on the bank of what appeared to be an underground river and she stayed there for a moment, every single bit of her body hurting in one way or another while every instinct screamed that she needed to get up, to go find her company, to get them all out of the mountains as quickly as she possibly could.

It was one of those moments when she would cut off her right arm for a cellphone.

Bella sucked in a deep breath through her teeth before she pushed herself up onto her knees. She was bleeding in several places, her clothes were ripped, and she was pretty sure that she had dislocated the shoulder she had previously injured in the troll incident.

“Goddamn it…” She whispered, holding her hurt arm to her chest as she managed to stumble to get unsteadily to her feet. “Goddamn it.” She said again, with more feeling as she reached a hand up to her aching head and it came back sticky and red with blood.

Her chest tightened and she tried to force herself not to panic. She just had to find her way out. She’s always had a rather good sense of direction, and she wasn’t claustrophobic. She could handle this. She could get out of this.

There was nothing but rock behind her so she started forward, her muscles protesting loudly. She let herself cry, there in the darkness of the tunnels under The Misty Mountains, where no one would see or hear her, where she could keep it to herself.

She wondered if time passed the same way in her own world and she cried for everything she’d left behind.

She wondered how Frodo was doing in Rivendell and she cried because her nephew had been chased by orcs.

She wondered how hard Oin was going to frown at her when he saw what she’d done to her shoulder and her head and she cried because it _fucking hurt._

It wasn’t panicking, it was crying. _There was a difference._

And then she heard something that she definitely should not have heard if she was truly alone in the tunnels; breathing.

Bella dove behind the nearest rock, pressing her back against it and holding her own breath as whatever was down there with her got closer.

The creature was… terrifying. The kind of imp that haunted Bella’s dreams as a child. Pale, and drawn, so thin that Bella could see every single one of it’s bones. It crawled around on all fours and mumbled to itself as it went.

Suddenly, it dove into the water to Bella’s right, coming back up with a large, pink fish. It crowed triumphantly ducking it’s head to sink it’s teeth into the side of the fish; startling when the thing started flopping about in its hands.

As the creature jerked back something fell from it’s pocket, Bella’s eyes following it all the way down as it bounced off the ground and rolled like a coin before coming to a stop and falling down on it’s side.

It was a ring.

The creature, whatever it was, simply slammed the fish’s head down onto the rocky ground before resuming its meal. Wandering off and continuing to mutter to itself with it’s mouth full; truly dreadful dinner manners.

If asked, later or whenever, Bella didn’t know why she took the ring. Only that one second she was staring at it and the next it was in her pocket as she crept through the tunnels, using the light of her sword to guide her.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when the creature began to shout, “Too many boneses, Precious!” It screeched, “Too many boneses in the fisheses.” Then, “Shut up!” before it appeared to begin to converse completely with itself; one personality a simpering, cowardly little thing and the other a barking, cruel tyrant.

It was almost interesting enough to make Bella want to stay and watch it for a moment, like some kind of sick stageplay.

Now playing! Goblin Caves - The Musical! Featuring hits like, “Put That Ring Back Where It Came From (Before You Die) Or So Help Me!”

(She may have hit her head a little harder than she thought on the way down.)

She must have wandered alone in the dark for hours, always keeping an eye out for the terrifying little creature, ready to hide at a moment’s notice should it show back up.

But it was faster and quieter than it looked, appearing in front of her quick as a blink when just a moment before she was sure she had heard it far, far away.

And it was talking about _eating_ her.

And her head was really starting to hurt.

“Get back!” She shouted, holding up her sword with her good arm, keeping the other one close to her chest to avoid jostling her shoulder. “I mean it!”

The thing reared back, “Elvish blade!” It yelled, “But it’s not an Elvsis! Not a dwarveses! Not a man…”

“Well, I’m definitely no man.” Bella mumbled, more to herself than anything before addressing the creature, “My name is Bella… I’m a hobbit.” Kind of. “What are you?”

She definitely hadn’t written this creature.

It seems that she hadn’t written a good deal of what was happening to her.

Her timeline was clear: Dwarves leave the blue mountains. Dwarves stop by Bree. Dwarves deal with trolls. Gandalf leads dwarves to Rivendell without their knowledge -no orcs required-. Dwarves go up the mountains and get caught in the… storm.

Bella had stopped them from going up the mountains. Bella had had them set up camp in the cave.

 _This was all her fault_.

Well, shit. Add that to the list of things she wasn’t going to tell Thorin, right after the fact that she liked his butt and fancy hair.

“Our name is Gollum.” The creature, Gollum, replied, “What is a hobbiteses, Precious?” It paused, then it’s face lit up and it started talking about eating her.

 _Again_.

And not in the fun way.

“Look,” Bella said, taking a few steps back and keeping her sword raised, even as her good arm started to ache nearly as bad as her head and _bad_ arm, “just… just show me the way out of here, and we won’t have any trouble. I am really, really lost right now and I would really, really love it if I was to suddenly become _unlost_.” Was ‘unlost’ a word? She wasn’t sure.

She was going to say yes, just for this instance, and then never bring it up again.

Like that kiss.

What had he been thinking, kissing her like that? In the rain, after they fought, like she was some tacky romance novel maiden who needed saving?!

(Though, right then she wouldn’t turn her nose up at a little bit of old fashioned heroics.)

(Seriously, that thing was looking at her like she looked at a chocolate cake.)

“We know the way!” Gollum’s eyes widened excitedly, before it’s expression darkened and it snapped, “Shut up!”

“I didn’t say anything…” Bella mumbled, though the seemingly very far off logical part of her very casually told her that it was talking to itself again.

Bella figured she should be properly worried that her logic was casually telling her anything. She most certainly did not have an ‘Inner Goddess’ (and if she did it would be more like Cartoon Lizzie from _Lizzie_ _McGuire_ ).

“Not you.” Gollum hissed.

“Look,” Bella said, taking another couple of steps away, trying to put as much distance between herself and the creature as she possibly could before it inevitably attacked her, “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing here but-”

“A game!” Gollum crowed, “Yes, yes, yes! Let’s play a game!”

Bella froze. “A game?” Like what? _Monopoly? Harry Potter: Scene It_?

_“What has roots as nobody sees,_

_Is taller than trees,_

_Up, up it goes,_

_And yet never grows?_ “

“What?” Bella asked, staring at the creature as though it had two heads (which actually would have been quite helpful, now that she thought about it. “A riddle?”

“Yes!” Gollum was nearly bouncing in his excitement, “Riddles! A game of riddles!”

Riddles… Bella had always been very good at riddles; Frodo loved them. But then again, she was also not normally concussed when she was trying to answer them. But then again it may be her only way out of this colossal mess. “What do I get if I win?” She asked.

That caught Gollum off guard, “What?”

“What do I get if I win?” She repeated, “Oh!” She exclaimed like it just came to her, “I know! We ask riddles until one of us fails to answer, or answers wrong. If I win you show me the way out and you don’t eat me.”

“And if I win?” Gollum asked.

“You eat me.”  
  


Bella won. Turns out, Gollum didn’t take losing very well (it may have also been that Bella definitely cheated with the “what have I got in my pocket?” thing). Then it figured out that she had the ring.

And then it went ape shit.

And then Bella ran. Very quickly. Until she finally managed to loose the cursed thing and find her way out of the tunnels in the process.

She almost killed it; she could have killed it, plenty of times. The ring, for being such a tiny, pretty little thing… when Bella slipped it on Gollum stood right in front of her and didn’t see her and she could have killed it if she was at all the killing sort.

But she wasn’t.

And besides, sometimes courage was knowing when to spare a life instead of when to take it.

The sunlight felt almost unbearably warm on Bella’s skin when she finally stumbled out of the tunnels.

“Where is the hobbit?” She heard someone yell, and then there was the kind of chaos that only came from thirteen dwarves and a wizard.

Her thirteen dwarves and wizard.

Bella started forward, towards the sound, her mouth opening to call out to them that she was there, she was fine (mostly), and she was really glad to see them, when she caught sight of Thorin’s face.

He looked stricken, and a little pissed. And Bella kept her mouth shut.

“When was the last time anyone saw her?” He demanded.

The dwarves all looked at each other, “I ‘aven’t seen her since she came running into the cave.” Bofur finally said. There was a general mutter of agreement.

“I didn’t see her in the goblin tunnels.” Dori said.

“Do you think she avoided falling?” Kili asked hopefully.

“No,” Dwalin shook his head, “she kicked me in the shin when we were falling; there’s no mistaking hobbit feet when they hit you.”

Even Bella winced sympathetically.

“How did we lose her?” Fili yelled, turning and slamming his fist into the nearest tree. “We had one job.” He said, pulling his hand from the crater and shaking it out, “Protect her. And we couldn't even do that right.”

Bella thought it was a little laughable that he thought his job was to protect her when it was very obviously the other way around.

“Your one job is to reclaim Erebor.” Thorin growled, “Or have you forgotten the purpose of this quest? It is not to make friends. And as for the hobbit… she’s been lost since she left her house. With any luck she is on her way back to Rivendell as we-”

“You know,” Bella finally spoke, slipping the ring off her finger and stepping around the tree she was hiding behind, “that’s the second time you’ve said that about me.” She slid down the slight hill, almost losing her balance but managing to stay upright at the last second. “And it’s still not true. I’m not lost.” She paused, “Well, technically I was very lost an hour ago, but I’m not lost metaphorically.”

Oin was by her side in an instant, poking around her shoulder, slapping at Bella’s good hand as she tried to wave him away. “What have you done?” He asked, morosely.

“I didn’t do it on purpose.” She muttered to the healer.

“Belladonna Baggins!” Gandalf laughed, stepping forward. “I have never been so happy to see anyone in all my life.”

Fili and Kili both seemed to apparate to her side, their hands fluttering around her worriedly but not touching as Oin examined her injured head, “We’d given you up.” Fili said hoarsely.

“How did you get passed the goblins?” Kili asked.

Bella laughed, discreetly shoving the ring into the pocket of her torn coat, “I’m a hobbit.” She stressed, “I am extremely talented at disappearing.” A pause, “And also, I never actually saw goblins. The tunnel we fell through branched off into a small section and I happened to fall through that smaller tunnel. I ended up deep in the mountain, but alone. I just had to find my way out.”

“And yet, even without anything trying to kill you, you managed to get yourself hurt.” Oin mumbled darkly.

“It’s not like I _try_.”

“Why?” Thorin cut in before anyone could say anything else, “Why did you come back?” His eyes narrowed in anger, “Why did you not go back to Rivendell where you would be safe?”

Why? Maybe because stupid kings kissed her when they should have stabbed her. Maybe because she loved every single one of them more fiercely than she had ever loved anyone in her entire life, aside from Frodo. Maybe because she made a promise to keep them alive, not just to Frodo, but to herself and that was a promise she intended to keep, so help her.

But she didn’t say any of that.

“Because,” is what she did say, “I know I’m just a… a tiny hobbit woman who doesn’t know how to do her own damn hair and who sings silly songs around campfires and can’t properly wield a sword and who misses her home so badly some days that it actually, physically hurts, but that’s why I’m here. If I miss my home this fiercely after only a few weeks,” and oh, oh did she miss her home. And her cellphone and her coffee maker and her bed, “then I can hardly imagine what you must feel like after sixty years and Thorin, I promise you, and every single member of your company that I will help you get your home back if I can.”

The thing was back in Thorin’s eyes, the thing that was there right before he kissed her. But he didn’t act on it, not with the whole company watching, not in broad daylight. Not while her shoulder was still out of it’s socket.

And that was, naturally, when the wargs made themselves known. Bella swore loudly, almost amused to realize that Dwalin and Nori had said the exact same thing at the exact same time.

Solidarity.

“Now what?” Bofur asked, looking around in astonished anger. “Now what?”

“Out of the frying pan…” Thorin hissed.

“And into the fire.” Gandalf and Bella finished and then they were running.

From orcs.

Again.

“I definitely didn’t write this.” Bella whispered to herself as she ran, and ran, and ran some more.

The wargs and their riders getting closer and closer with every breath until one of them leapt and landed directly in front of Bella.

She shrieked, scrambling back and grabbing for her sword with her good hand. She thought she heard someone calling her name but it all seemed very far away as she raised her sword and screamed again when the warg dove at her.

She didn’t think it would work; she really, honestly thought she was about to die. But by some miracle a moment later she had a very dead warg skewered on her tiny little elvish sword.

“Into the trees!” Gandalf roared.

Trees? Bella looked up, shell shocked, her entire body shaking, and very nearly passed out at the realization that they were on a cliff.

They were trapped.

It was suddenly hard to breathe.

Thorin shoved Kili and Fili towards the nearest tree, counting off the members of the company as they got to safety all while never dropping his guard to the orc riders quickly surrounding them.

“Bella?” He suddenly yelled, spinning in a slow circle until his eyes landed on her. “Bella!” She didn’t move, her eyes locked on his face as she tried to form a thought that wasn’t simply incoherent screaming. “ _Belladonna_ , come here.”

And there was something in his voice that broke through the panic; Bella shot forward, intent on scaling the tallest tree she could find, before she remembered her sword, still embedded in the warg’s skull, and doubled back, tugging on the hilt and becoming increasingly more frantic as it refused to move.

“Oh no,” she whispered, pulling harder, “oh no, oh no, oh no.”

“Bella!” Thorin yelled, again; there was a loud grunt and then a thump and a whimpers as Thorin’s sword apparently made contact with the warg he was aiming for. “Kili!” He roared when Bella made no move to run away like a sensible person.

An arrow whizzed past Bella’s ear, slamming into the forehead of the warg heading her way and throwing the rider off it’s back as she finally got her sword free and turned on her heel without another look behind her.

Thorin caught her around the waist, hefting her up to Fili who grabbed her hand and hauled her up before the king climbed up himself.

“What were you thinking?” He hissed at her.

Bella didn’t grace that with a reply. It wouldn’t have mattered if she had anyways; Thorin’s attention was completely focused on the orc that had just ridden up. Nearly ghostly white, with an ugly scarred face and a blade in place of his left arm. He was the only orc to ride a white warg.

The only thing that was missing was the ominous yet badass background music as Thorin whispered, “Azog.”

“That’s impossible.” Bella breathed, though a lot of the impossible had been happening as of late.

The orc said something, though the only words Bella could make out were names: Thorin and Thrain.

Next thing Bella knew the orcless wargs were attacking; pouncing at the trees, snapping at the the dwarves heels. She shrieked as one closed its jaws around the branch she was perched on. She kicked frantically at its face, clinging to Fili to keep her balance.

Kili slammed a dagger down into the thing’s eye and it finally let go with a howl.

Then the trees started to topple over, pushed by the wargs brute strength as they slammed into them, one after another. Bella screamed as she was swept into Thorin’s arms and then they were suddenly flying through the air, landing with a crash in the next tree, and then the next. The trees fell like dominos while an increasing number of dwarves were forced to jump from one to the other until there was only one tree left for them to jump to; the one on the edge of the cliff.

When Bella first started on the adventure, she had accepted the possibility of all manner of horrible deaths; most of which revolved around the dragon currently sleeping inside the halls of Erebor.

She’d never counted on falling off the cliff in a tree after being chased by orcs.

Then a flaming pine cone smacked one of the wargs in the face and Gandalf made a small noise of triumph before it began to positively rain flaming tree parts down on their attackers.

Bella joined in; her aim not as true as some of the dwarves -particularly Kili and Ori. Bella had a new respect for that slingshot of his- with only one arm useable but but passable enough. She managed to mostly hit the ground in front of the beasts’ paws, herding them back and away from the tree.

They were just beginning to think that maybe, maybe they had a chance when the tree they were all sitting in, the last tree, started to fall.

With a shout, Bella dropped the pine cone in her hand and grabbed for Thorin’s coat as the whole thing jolted and tilted alarmingly  _b_ _ack_.

“Ori!” Someone, probably Dori, yelled and Bella turned just enough to watch the youngest Ri brother lose his balance completely and topple over the edge.

“Ori!” Bella cried, relaxing only the slightest bit when she realized he’d caught onto Dori’s leg. He was hanging very, very dangerously over a thousand foot drop but had yet to take the drop. It was a minuscule relief, especially as Dori started to lose his own grip.” Gandalf!” She said frantically, “Your staff! Let Dori grab your staff!”

The wizard, thankfully, didn’t seem to be in an argumentative mood and did as she said in the split second before the limb Dori was clinging to gave out entirely.

Bella just barely caught the grateful nod from Nori and managed to nod back.

“Fili!” Thorin barked and then she was being very carefully untangled from the king and passed over to his oldest nephew. “Take care of her.” He demanded, his face set in something stubborn and determined; he wasn’t looking at them. He was looking at Azog.

He started towards the pale orc, Orcrist in hand, and for the first time Bella saw what Balin had spoken of when he told her and Frodo of the battle of Azanulbizar.

Thorin Oakenshield held himself like a hero as he stalked forward, through the flames, to do battle with the monster that killed his grandfather, and directly caused the death of his baby brother and the madness of his father, with naught but a fallen tree limb _again_.

He fought like he had something to prove. which in his mind he probably did. He had to prove to himself that he was stronger than Azog, that he was strong enough to avenge his family.

And for the first time Bella understood. She, too, would follow that man anywhere. She could call him king.

Dori screamed as his hands started to slip, but Bella couldn’t do anything to help him. Not with her bum arm and small stature. But she could… she could help Thorin, as Azog and his warg knocked him to the ground harshly.

The king wasn’t getting up quickly enough. Azog would surely finish him.

Bella’s hand wrapped around her sword; she wouldn’t pose much of a fight, even with two good arms, but she didn’t need to. She didn’t need to defeat him to help Thorin; she just needed to buy the dwarf some time. And Thorin made her brave, made the panic in her chest loosen up as she made up her mind.

Dwalin was already trying to get to him but Bella was closer. She shook Fili off of her and ran after Thorin, snatching up her sword where it had landed when the tree had fallen.

“ _Bella_!” A chorus of voices followed her, but she didn’t care. She just needed to get to Thorin, she needed to distract Azog long enough that Thorin could get up.

She’d promised Frodo that she would save him and she intended to keep that promise.

Thorin Oakenshield needed to _live_. He would be such a great king…

“Hey!” She shouted, brandishing the sword in front of her like she had any idea what she was doing, “Dick pickle!” That got the orc’s attention and he turned to her with rage in his eyes, “You ready to be on the receiving end of a very well placed accident?” She tried to grin, tried to appear like she wasn’t about shitting herself with very rational fear. “Because someone needs to teach you a lesson, you useless dildo.”

Insulting _and_ threatening Azog the Defiler in the same breath was probably not on any list of recommended activities, but it had the desired effect. He turned away from Thorin, his mouth set in something cruel and furious.

Bella raised her sword high, attempting to block as Azog’s warg lunged at her. She still took the brunt of the attack, stumbling back with a yelp. She retaliated by slashing haphazardly with her sword, catching the unsuspecting warg in the muzzle and having only a moment of triumph before it was upon her, breath hot as flame and rancid on her face as it pinned her the ground.

“Any last words?” The orc said, speaking in common for the first and only time to mock her.

Bella’s grin was true this time as she caught sight of Thorin’s hand moving towards his fallen sword out of the corner of her eye. The other orcs were too focused on Azog and the stupid little hobbit to notice. But she did. She met Azog’s eyes, content that she had managed what she set out to do, even if she was now more than likely about to die horribly at the hands and teeth of the warg with its teeth to her throat.

“ _Long live Thorin Oakenshield_.” She hissed, and then she spit in the wargs face.

The warg reared back and that was the last thing Bella remembered.

Bella woke up to Gandalf’s hand in her face. Considering she wasn’t planning on waking up _at all_ it wasn’t the worst case scenario; even if the wizard’s hands could do with a thorough washing. She bat him away weakly, wrinkling her nose as he started to laugh.

“You’re alright.” He said.

“How’s Thorin?” She asked in response, pushing herself up and finding, quite gladly, that someone had wrenched her arm back into place. It still hurt but it was no longer completely useless.

“He’s here.” Gandalf helped her to her feet and she couldn’t help the smile at the relieved sigh that went through the company, “Everyone was very worried about you, Miss. Baggins.”

“I’m alright.” She said, though she ached all over. Her eyes sought Thorin and once they found him they were loathe to move, even as he looked anything but pleased with her.

“You!” The king hissed, stepping forward, singling himself out from the rest of the company, “What did you think you were _doing_?” Bella opened her mouth to inform him that she was most definitely _saving his ass_ , when he continued, “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

“But you know,” Bella butt in dryly, "I didn't." The fact the first thing she did after almost dying was go back to her day job of sassing the king under the mountain was almost enough to make Bella giggle.

She didn’t; contrary to popular belief her sense of self preservation was in slightly better shape than that.

“I _told you_!” Thorin said, “I told you that you had no place here! I told you that you wouldn’t survive with us!” Just when Bella thought she was going to start crying he took the final few steps to her and enveloped her in a tight hug. “I have never been so wrong, Belladonna Baggins.”

She did start crying then, but not for the reason she thought she would, She wrapped her own arms around him and tucked her face into the fur of his coat. She had needed a hug so badly. She needed a lot of things; a bath being one of the more pressing things, answers being at the very top of that list, but a hug was definitely up there.

And Thorin Oakenshield gave really, _really_ great hugs.

“I am sorry,” he whispered into her (filthy) hair, “for how I have treated you. You saved my life today.”

“Well, I couldn’t let you die.” Bella said, looking for a way to tell him that she was _in_ this quest. Four hundred percent in. She would follow him to the end of the world if he asked her to.

She pulled away, wiping at the wetness on her cheeks. “Hobbits don’t…Hobbit’s don’t have kings.” She said, “Or queens. Or royalty of any kind. But I think…” she squared her shoulders and looked him in the eyes, “I think you could be mine, Thorin Oakenshield. You could be mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Irish/ "Hobbit"  
> Mé nach ... muinín .. air - I don't trust him.
> 
> Khuzdul  
> Namaduh - Sister  
> Nadad -Brother  
> Inùdoy kurdulu – my son of the heart
> 
> Sindarin  
> Mellon - Friend


	3. Constant As A Northern Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously do not get used to this update schedule. It'll only end in tears. Probably mine.

Thorin did not mention the kiss. Not when he pointed out The Lonely Mountain to her with her hand in his, not when he checked her over for injuries after she scouted for orcs -because she was the smallest and not easily seen and obviously the best choice for that mini-mission despite what Dwalin had to say about it-, not when he physically lifted her off her feet when they ran from the giant bear to get to the cottage.

Not when Oin patched her up and the dwarves commended both her bravery and her stupidity at the same time.

He just… didn’t mention it. Acted like it never happened.

Which it did. Happen, that is. They hadn’t had the time to address it, but it had happened. And _he hadn’t mentioned it._

And Bella certainly wasn’t going to.

Gandalf told them to get some sleep and Bella, for one, was going to very enthusiastically do just as he said. No passing go, no collecting money of any sort.

She had a date with the sandman that she simply could not cancel again.

“Bella!” Kili called, as she set up by the fire; their backs and bedrolls had been lost during the incident in the goblins caved, but she’d found a couple of thick blankets in a cabinet that she hoped Beorn wouldn't mind her borrowing. ( She got cold far quicker than dwarves did and as such was always made to sleep closest to the fire.) “Let me do your hair before you go to bed.”

Bella reached up, touching the tangled, dirty strands absently. “It’s a lost cause, Kee.” She said, shaking her head, “Gandalf said we’d be able to bathe tomorrow,” and oh, was she looking forward to that, “you can do it after.”

“I just want to get it out of the way while you sleep.” Kili pleaded, “It is physically hurting me right now.”

She groaned, bowing under the force of Kili’s puppy eyes, and crawled forward, settling in front of him. “Menace.”

“Love you too.” Kili grinned, tugging affectionately on a lock of her hair before beginning to untangle it with his own comb, which he’d apparently had on him and managed to keep during the goblin attacks.

He was surprisingly gentle with her and it was far less painful than she’d thought it would be to have her hair done by a dwarf. She wasn’t sure what he was doing, but she would bet money that it was unnecessarily complicated.

“You know,” Fili commented offhandedly, “you never did teach uncle how to… waterfall braid.”

“No,” she said, her eyes finding Thorin as he settled himself beside the fire, very close to where she’d laid out her own blankets, “I didn’t.” She held out her hand for the older brother, “Come here, then. It won’t take but a minute.”

Fili padded over and dropped in front of Bella in an uncoordinated pile of limbs and blonde hair, the rest of the company gathered around to watch, “I just can’t believe I know a braid that you don’t.” She said absently as she sectioned off a bit of hair near Fili’s temple and held it up for the others to see, “It’s super easy. Grab a bit of hair, about an inch wide. Split it in two.” She did so, “Then you’re going to take the outer strand and you’re going to tuck it under the inner strand and then through the loop.” Even Thorin had wandered over, “Pull it tight, and pull the strand that was the outer strand off to the side; if you’re doing it yourself you would hold it in your mouth.” Since she wasn’t doing it on herself she just had Fili hold it. “And now the original inner strand is your new outer strand and you just repeat it all the way around, or halfway around, basically until you decide to end it.”  She would have thrown her hands up if they weren’t otherwise occupied, “And this is literally the only vaguely fancy hairstyle that I know.”

A quick glance up showed the dwarves had buddied up to try it on each other; Kili staying behind Bella and practicing on her. She smiled to herself, continuing to braid Fli’s hair as she started to hum softly to herself.

Something by Joni Mitchell, she thought, from the… _Practical Magic_ soundtrack?

“That’s pretty.” Fili mumbled, Kili uffing his agreement behind her, “Does it have words?”

Bella rolled her eyes, but started to sing the words nevertheless. Dwarves enjoyed music; they sang more than even the theater majors Bella had been friends with in college. And they seemed to particularly enjoy her “hobbit” songs.

“Hey.” Kili exclaimed, “This one’s in Common.”

She didn’t comment, her smile widening.

“What’s ‘Canada;’?” Ori asked loudly.

Thorin started to hum along, and Bella lost herself in it a little bit as she finished Fili’s hair. It was nice, almost domestic, and at least the king wasn’t pretending like she didn’t exist, which she honestly thought would be Thorin’s tactic for not mentioning the kiss.

It had been a pretty great kiss, though. Even if he did choose to do it in the middle of a fight in the rain like she was the heroine in some two-dollar paperback novel that featured a naked man’s torso and the back of woman in a nightgown on the cover.

Thorin’s voice was so low, particularly when compared to the song’s hysterically high notes. And it flowed so well that she didn’t want it to end.

It did though. It ended as Bella secured the leather strap in Fili’s hair; binding it into a low ponytail that kept the braid snaking around the side of his head in place.

It would have to do since she didn’t have any bobby pins.

“There.” She announced, dropping her hands into her lap. “One completed waterfall braid. Normally as long as you secure the last piece it’ll be fine and won’t unravel, but I don’t have anything to pin it with so the ponytail will do the trick.”

“Very impressive, Miss. Baggins.” Thorin said softly. “It would seem there is a lot that hobbits can teach us.”

“Oh, yes.” Bella commented flippantly, “Particularly in the art of sassing kings who annoy us.”

Behind her, Kili snorted. “You can say that again.”

“No one ever talks back to uncle except for mum.” Fili said.

“Sometimes Dain and sometimes Dwalin.” Kili added, “But mostly mum.”

“The more I hear about your mother the more I like her.” Bella laughed, “Alright Kili, may I go to bed now?”

Kili hummed thoughtfully before patting her shoulder and saying, “I suppose. I’ll do something better with it when it’s clean.”

Bella rolled her eyes, “Ridiculous dwarves.” She said fondly, pushing herself to her feet.

“These ridiculous dwarves aren’t the ones who called Azog The Defiler a ‘dick pickle’ and ‘useless dildo’.” Bofur pointed out. He paused. “What is a dildo?”

“Nope.” Bella shook her head,  refusing to explain the concept of a sex toy to ten fully grown dwarves and three dwarves that weren’t quite there yet. “I’m not going there with you lot.”

“Why?” Nori asked, his eyebrows waggling suggestively, “is it something naughty?”

Bella’s cheeks flamed. “Yes, actually.” She managed to say, quickly retreating to her makeshift bedroll and sitting down, pulling the blankets up to her chin, though she didn’t lay down yet.

Now everyone was interested. “How naughty?” Gloin asked.

“Exceedingly.” Bella answered. She could not believe she was having this conversation. She looked to the young ones, deciding to do it just be done with it. “It’s a sex toy. A dildo is an object, normally made of silicone or soft plastic, and it’s shaped like a… like a penis.” She shrugged, “Both women and men use them and honestly, when you’re single like I am, they’re pretty handy.”

Even Dwalin’s face was red.

Bella secretly considered it a win even though she wasn’t much better.

“You mean you… you own one?” Ori nearly squeaked, holding his mittened hands up to hide his face.

“Several.” Bella answered honestly, and as she said it she suddenly really missed what she very jokingly called her “slutty drawer”.

“What would you need more than one for?” Kili asked, his eyes wide and incredulous.

Bella didn’t know what she had done to the universe to deserve this but whatever it was she was sorry and she would never do it again, honest. She huffed, flopping back and rolling onto her side, facing the fire and giving the dwarves her back, “Because it’s none of your business, that’s why.”

“But-” Fili started.

“Leave her alone.” Thorin cut his nephew off, “Embarrassing the hobbit is not a game you should be playing when you just watched her face off against the pale orc." Bella's affection for the king under the mountain grew exponentially, even if his mood swings were giving her whiplash. "Get some sleep, all of you.” He ordered.

“Thank you.” Bella mumbled, cocooning herself in her pilfered blankets.

Thorin settled himself very close to her and Bella nearly hissed; being reminded of her drawer back home had just served to remind her that she hadn’t had an orgasm since waking up in Arda. And then there was that kiss and now there was a good amount of very attractive (if infuriating) dwarf stretched out beside her and she was so sexually frustrated she was going to cry.

She had trouble falling asleep, despite how tired she was. She just kept turning over and over, her mind unwilling to shut up about the fact that Thorin was sleeping maybe a foot away from her. She was too warm in a way that had nothing to do with the fire beside her,

She rolled onto her side for what felt like hundredth time, debating shoving a hand down her pants and just getting it over with; she was fairly certain the others were all asleep, and even if they weren’t she’d had Frodo to think of for over a year; she was quiet.

It turned out to be a very good thing that she didn’t act on the thought as soon as it crossed her mind because a second later someone, Thorin, was reaching over her and tugging her into his chest with an annoyed huff.

“If you don’t stop that neither of us are going to get any sleep.” He mumbled into her hair.

“You’re the one who set up next to me.” She hissed, though surprisingly enough having him pressed right up against her, well it didn’t get rid of that persistent tug in her lower stomach, but it did cloak her in a heavy sleepiness that almost masked it.

Thorin didn’t say anything back, just huffed quietly and settled back down, his arm a solid weight over her waist and his nose pressed firmly to the back of her head. Bella shifted slightly until she could tuck her legs over his and then they were well and truly curled together like spoons in a drawer.

Bella nearly giggled; she was spooning with Thorin Oakenshield.

What in the world(s)?

“Are you done flopping around like a fish?” He asked after a moment and she could feel his smile.

Bella pulled the blankets up higher and almost hesitantly rested her arms over his around her. It was comfortable. And really warm. But she was laying on her bad shoulder. She swore quietly as she realized; it didn’t ache yet but it would. “One more time.” She promised, rolling over onto her other side.

It was startlingly more intimate to be facing him; the tip of her nose brushing his chin and she quickly ducked her head, pressing her face into his shirt.

“Bad shoulder.” She said at his questioning grunt. “It would be very sore in the morning if I laid on it all night.”

“Ah.” Thorin sighed, and then he pressed a very light kiss to her bad shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Literally nothing you did lead to it.” Bella pointed out, her head feeling a little light, “I’m the one who antagonized the trolls, and I’m the one who decided we should set up camp in that cave.” She shrugged, “I should be apologizing to you.”

“Never.” Thorin whispered, his arm tightening around her and his hand spreading out to span the entire length of her back, “Sleep now.”

Bella rolled her eyes, though she yawned as if on cue, “Yes, your royal pain-in-the-ass-ness.”

If he said anything back, she didn’t hear it. Already out.

 

She was alone when she woke up.

 

Their host, Beorn, was a skin changer who took the shape of a great black bear. Gandalf had warned them early on that he wasn’t overly fond of dwarves, but thankfully that seemed to just mean that he was simply neutral.

Hobbits on the other hand Beorn seemed to adore. He’d taken to Bella instantly, calling her “Little Bunny” and insisting she ride everywhere on his shoulders.

Which wouldn’t be too bad except that Beorn was about eight feet tall and Bella was absolutely terrified of heights (and therefore particularly glad that she had slept through that entire eagle debacle).

And to top it all off, she still hadn’t told anyone about the ring she had found in the goblin caves.

“If you think I’m tiny and adorable,” she said, smiling up at Beorn from her spot in his garden, absently braiding some flowering weeds together, “you should see my nephew. He barely comes up to my hip.”

Beorn’s face lit up, “So small?”

Bella nodded, “I left him in Rivendell with Lord Elrond for the duration of our journey, but I would be glad to bring him by to meet you should time permit.” Should whatever magic that had brought them to Arda not sweep them back to their own universe once Erebor was reclaimed.

“I would like that very much, Little Bunny.”

“Bella!” Bofur called, picking his way over carefully, eying the overgrown bees buzzing around Bella’s head with much trepidation; unlike their master they seemed to outright dislike the dwarves traipsing around their home.

“Hello, Bofur.” Bella said back, “Come and join us?”

“Do you think I can without being turned into a dwarven pincushion?” The miner asked.

Bella looked to Beorn, “Can you call off your bees? They tried to sting Kili when he braided my hair this morning.” That had been fun.

The skinchanger chuckled under his breath, and made a noise that just sounded like a bunch of rapid clicks to Bella but must have meant something along the lines of “Buzz off!” to the bees. She snorted on a laugh at her own joke, waving off the concerned glances from both Beorn and Bofur as the dwarf made his way over.

“I’m actually just here on a mission.” Bofur said, settling next to Bella in the patch of weeds, “But I’m sure the king won’t mind if we have a smoke before I send you back to him.” He winked and Bella laughed again.

She liked Beorn’s house; she liked the large garden, and she liked the animals, and she was clean and well fed… It was almost as good as Rivendell. Even then, the only thing Rivendell really had that Beorn’s didn’t was Frodo.

“I don’t smoke.” Bella pointed out, as Bofur lit his pipe, “I haven’t since I was nineteen.”

“I do not either.” Beorn said, standing, “I will leave you two to it.”

Bella turned her smile on the skinchanger, “Alright. If you see Thorin tell him I will be right with him, would you?”

The grin she got in return was very nearly feral, “Why, I would be delighted, Little Bunny.”

Bella shared the pipe with Bofur, nearly coughing her lungs right out of her chest after the first puff and refusing to take another. She really hadn’t smoked since she was in college. She was content to just sit and talk with her friend while he enjoyed his vices.

“You seem very happy, this afternoon.” He commented idly, watching a butterfly the size of his hand flutter by.

“It is a good afternoon.” Bella said, “It’s warm, the sun is shining, and my nephew is safe and sound with the elves in Rivendell.”

“And I suppose you slept very well last night?”

Bella froze, her cheeks reddening, “I… yes I suppose I slept fairly well.”

“More than fairly from what I saw. You and the king were wrapped around each other like a pair of octopusses.”

“Octopi.” Bella corrected him instead of gracing that statement with a reply. She stood, brushing off her (clean!) pants with one hand, the other carefully clutching the crown of flowers she’d woven together.

Maybe she’d give it to Thorin. He’d love that.

Not.

He was in rare form, she almost expected him to breathe fire upon her as she approached.

“What were you doing?” He demanded.

Bella blinked, reaching up and pushing a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “I was chatting with Bofur. Is that a crime now, your majesty?” She wasn’t even trying to hide her sarcasm. It was right there, as plain as the eye could see.

And Thorin definitely saw it, “And before that?” He ground out.

“Beorn showed me his garden.” She held up the flower crown as proof, “Apparently these flowers are weeds. Awfully pretty though.”

“You’re spending a lot of time with our host.”

“I’ve spent exactly one morning with him, Thorin.” Bella rolled her eyes, moving forward to seat herself on the overly large sofa. She had to set her flowers next to her and then pull herself up because the damned thing was so high. “Stop being such a sourdwarf.” She picked up the crown again and held it out, deciding to try her luck.

The brooding expression on Thorin’s face softened, “What is it?” He stepped towards her.

Bella grinned at him, “It’s a crown.” Thorin’s fingers rasped at her palm as he took the flowers from her, “I’m sure it’s not the kind of gold you were thinking of, but it’s perfectly fitting for a king from a hobbits perspective.”

“I thought hobbits didn’t have kings?” He asked, and he wasn’t throwing the silly thing away like she had thought he would. He was smiling at it as he brushed gentle fingers over the golden flowers.

“We don’t.” Bella shrugged, suddenly feeling self conscious. Her feelings towards the king under the mountain were fast getting out of hand. “But if we did this is probably what they would wear on their more casual days.” Thorin went to hand it back to her and she shook head, “No, it’s for you.”

The wonder on Thorin’s face scared her. It was just a flower crown (made of weeds at that) it wasn’t like she was proposing marriage, but he looked at it like she’d just given him the actual moon and all of the stars.

That was looking like a great, big bag of “Nope” with Bella’s name on it.

Love was not an open door, not when she was running for her life from orcs in the world she thought she created (which obviously, at this point, she did not) and had no idea how or if she would ever get home.

Love and romance and annoyingly attractive kings needed to be the last things on her mind.

She stood quickly, “Sorry,” she said, “I just remembered I told Fili and Kili I would teach him a new song this afternoon.”

She wasn’t completely lying; she had promised to teach the boys more “Hobbit songs”, in particular Frodo’s favorites (which meant that the Company Of Thorin Oakenshield was about to be treated to the best, and only, Disney Medley of their lives), she just hadn’t specified when.

No time like the present. Or, more specifically, no time like when she needed to quickly flee an awkward situation that was about to make her handle her feelings like a responsible adult.

Nearly thirty but still basically a fifteen year old.

Her life.

* * *

 

They left Beorn’s with new packs full of food and bedrolls-where Beorn happened to acquire fourteen bedrolls Bella didn’t know and didn’t care to ask. She didn’t think that he murdered unsuspecting travelers and stole their stuff… but he spend an awful lot of time as a very large, very angry bear so just in case she figured she was better of not knowing.

Fili seemed to have the same idea, elbowing Kili in the ribs when he opened his mouth to ask.

From what Bella recalled, Mirkwood was actually called the Greenwood. and it didn’t look a thing in real life like if did in her head. “Isn’t this… The Greenwood?” She asked, gazing up into the dying trees. “Why does it look so… sad?”

“The Greenwood is sick, Bella Baggins.” Gandalf replied, he leant down and said in a voice only she could hear, “You did not write this either, I suppose?”

Bella shook her head. “No. What’s happening Gandalf? Why is everything changing? Is it because I am here?”

“Is that why you have been so quiet?” Gandalf’s eyebrows rose in surprise, “My dear writer, things are not changing because you are here; you are here because things are changing.” With that said he straightened up and addressed the rest of the company; “This is where I leave you.” He said, “Do not stray from the path and, whatever you do, do not enter that mountain without me.”

Bella made a dismayed sound in the back of her throat; go through the forest of doom without Gandalf? That sounded like the absolute worst plan she’d ever heard in her life; and she was on a quest lead by Thorin Oakenshield.

Mr. Sense Of Direction, himself.

“You will be alright, Bella.” Gandalf pat her shoulder gently. “Just do not get lost; you will never get unlost.”

“Then Thorin will not be leading this leg of the adventure.” She said, without really meaning to before slapping a hand to her mouth, horrified.

Her eyes sought Thorin as the company laughed. Wincing at the way they narrowed at her. They hadn’t spoken since she’d given him the flowers two days prior; and he hadn’t moved to sleep by her again. And then she had to go and insult him.

“What was it you said before the quest, Bella?” Kili asked, “Unable to find his way out of a laundry basket even with a map?”

Bella squeaked, her cheeks flaming. “I… yes.” She managed. “I did say that. In my defense I hadn’t met you yet. I was only going by what I’d heard.” And what she’d written.

“And now?” Thorin asked.

Things could go one of two ways; the way where Bella smiled and told him that she had been wrong, or the way where she told the truth. “Now I’m going to make you stand in the middle of the group and tie a rope around your belt so we don’t lose you.”

She went with the truth.

Gandalf spoke to Thorin, softly, and Bella realized with a start that there was a slightly wilted golden flower peeking out of his pocket. Her hand flew to her own pocket, her fingers finding the ring she’d picked up in the cave and twirling it between them.

She still hadn’t told anyone about it; not sure how to broach the subject of “Hey! I stole this ring from a creepy little hellbeast in the goblin caves and it can apparently make me invisible.” She doubted that would go over very well.

“You’re doing it again.” Gandalf told her, suddenly at her side.

Or not so suddenly, as the rest of the company was already at the elven gate.

“Doing what?” Bella asked, dropping the ring and withdrawing her hand from her pocket.

“Going somewhere else while remaining here.” He peered at her, his eyes narrowed shrewdly. “You’ve changed, Belladonna Baggins. You’re not the same hobbit who left the Shire.”

“Probably because when I left the Shire I wasn’t a hobbit at all.” Bella pointed out with a shrug, “I find myself growing used to the title.” Of both burglar and hobbit. When Gandalf stayed quiet she resigned herself; she would have to tell him. “I.. found something in the caves.” She said.

“What did you find?”

“I found…” She paused and thought about it. That ring, wherever it came from, had a power. A power that could come in very, very handy in the days to come if all went according to her book, and especially if it didn’t. But only if it was a _secret_ ; “my courage.” She finished rather lamely, in her opinion, but the wizard didn't question it.

Her courage, it would seem, took a very sudden, very long vacation the second she entered Mirkwood. It was dark and damp and sick and it _smelled_ dark, damp, and sick. There were things moving behind the trees, watching their every move.

Bella couldn’t see them, couldn’t prove that they were there. But they were. Traveling with Thorin Oakenshield she’d become quite familiar with the sensation of being watched.

The entire thing freaked Bella out and then, more than ever, she was so very, very glad that she had left Frodo in Rivendell.

Fili and Kili took to traveling on either side of her, sensing her unease, and Bofur quickly joined them. At least one of them was always touching her in some way; Kili’s hands in her hair, plucking out leaves and twigs from the complicated nest of braids he’d twisted the long strands into; Fili looping his arm casually over her shoulder as he told tales of his other various adventures; most of which involving his brother, their cousin Gimli (Gloin’s son) and an irate Dís (Fili and Kili’s mother) and Thorin chasing after the pair of them; Bofur’s hand in hers as he pointed out this or that plant he thought she would find interesting.

All three of them working seamlessly to keep her from having a panic attack.

“Where did the path go?!” Dwalin asked, suddenly, and all of Fili, Kili, and Bofur’s work was for naught.

Bella’s breath caught in her throat. They had one job. One. Stay on the path. And they had lost the path.

“Find it!” Thorin ordered, “Now, all of you look!”

“Uncle!” Kili called, his hand clamping down on Bella’s shoulder as she tried to remember how to breathe. “There’s something wrong with Bella!”

Bella waved her hands, trying to tell them that she was okay. It would pass. They always passed.

“Bella?” Thorin asked, and then his hands were on her face, “Look at me.”

She opened her eyes, unaware of when she’d closed them. Thorin was so close, his eyes nearly neon blue as they bore into hers. Her heart was beating so fast she was surprised it was still inside her chest. Her breath was coming in short, shallow gasps as tears pricked at her eyes.

“I’m okay.” She managed. “I-It’ll stop.” She reached up, covering Thorin’s hands with her own, sliding her fingers between the grooves of his.

“Breathe with me.” He demanded, “Come on, Bella.”

Bella did as she was told, wondering briefly when Thorin Oakenshield learned to diffuse panic attacks. She closed her eyes, trying to breathe deeply with him even as her breath hitched halfway through every painful, terrifying breath.

Thorin’s thumbs swept under her eyes, and didn’t move away until she’d calmed down.

Bella wiped at her eyes as the company surrounded her cautiously, “I’m alright…” She said again with more conviction, though her voice still shook, “That was a long time coming, I’m afraid.”

“Does this happen often?” Oin asked, his eyebrows creased in worry.

“Only under situations of extreme stress.” She looked to Thorin. “You… handled that very well.”

“Dís had similar attacks, right after the battle of Azanulbizar.” Thorin shifted, “I would often be the one to calm her down. Sometimes Dwalin and sometimes Dain, but mostly it was me.”

“I didn’t know that.” Kili sounded offended that his mother had kept something like that from him.

“I didn’t either.” Fili said in the same tone as his brother.

“You were _children_. I hadn’t even made you your first practice sword the last time it was a problem, Little Lion.” Thorin placated his nephews before turning to the company, "Did any of you find the path?”

They shifted uncomfortably, gazing at Bella like they were unwilling to speak around her lest it send her into another panic. She rolled her eyes, “If you’re going to treat me like a doll for the duration of the journey it is going to be a very long trip to The Lonely Mountain.”

“We didn’t find it.” Dwalin finally grunted.

Something Bella learned very early on was that when dwarves got upset, they got loud, and when they got loud, really the best thing to do was to ignore them and do your own thing.

So, while the company shouted about whose fault it had been that they lost the path, Bella grabbed onto Thorin’s sleeve, nodded to a very tall tree to her right, and slipped away to climb it without a word, figuring that a higher vantage point would be good for everyone.

She climbed like she’d been doing it all her life; which was not actually true, she had never climbed a tree at all until Frodo had come to live with her. But since then she’d become quite good at it. She’d dare to say she could scale a tree faster than a dwarf when she had both arms to do it with.

There were...webs in the trees. And Bella tried not to think of what could possibly make a web that big because that would lead to thoughts of very large spiders and Bella absolutely abhorred spiders.

When she was in college there had been a spider on her dorm room wall (just hanging out like it paid tuition) and she had locked herself in the bathroom and phoned her father, refusing to move for the hour and a half it took Bungo Baggins to come and dispatch the terrifying little beast.

She really did not like spiders.

But all thoughts of eight legged freaks were pushed from her mind as her head broke the surface of the trees and she breathed in fresh air for what felt like the first time in days. The sun was warm on her face and there were butterflies fluttering about her head and she… she could see the mountain.

“Hey!” She called, looking down though she was too high to see the ground, “Hey, I can see The Lonely Mountain from here! We’re so close!”

Everything happened so fast after that; one second she was trying to get down from the tree and the next her foot got caught on a particularly sticky bit of web and she was falling. And she was right, the amount of webbing in Mirkwood definitely came from some very large spiders. Multiple very large spiders.

One of which was waiting for Bella on the ground and giant spiders (that once again she did not write) were too much too soon after a panic attack; she fainted.

 

Bella woke up covered in web, like a particularly large, juicy fly and _she did not scream._ It was an almost thing; a very almost thing. But she didn’t and she wants that noted.

She didn’t even scream when the giant spider that had, presumably, wrapped her up like the world’s most terrified burrito, came back into her line of sight, otherwise known as directly over top of her since, as previously mentioned she was a _burrito_. She tried to wiggle her fingers, nearly crying in relief when she realized that not only could she move them, she could reach her sword.

Giant spiders, it would seem, screeched when hobbits skewered them.

Bella sat up as the creature fell, down, down, down through the trees and out of site. She relieved herself of the worst of the webbing and looked around, her heart stopping at the thirteen very dwarf shaped web bundles hanging around her.

The entire company had been caught.

And there were more spiders. At least a dozen scuttling around them as she pressed her back to the closest tree, taking a few deep, calming breaths. Swallowing her panic. She had to save the company, she didn’t have time to freak out.  

She just needed to not...be...seen.

Her hand flew to her pocket, shoving her hand inside where her fingers quickly found the ring. She pulled it out, staring at it for a moment; normally she would not condone the use of magical artifacts of unknown origins -she was a writer after all, she knew every single way that could end horrifically- but desperate times and all that.

Time seemed to slow down as the ring slipped onto Bella’s finger; snug and cool against her skin.

With a start she realized she could hear the spiders then; not just the general scuffling of their movements, but actual, understandable words.

And she really, really wished that she couldn’t.

The rest of the company started to wake, slowly, and they didn’t have the wherewithal that Bella had to not freak out. Bombur in particular started flailing almost immediately, which did little to free himself but a lot to excite the spiders around him.

Bella reached next to her and picked up a bit of wood, about as long and thick as her arm, and hurled it as far as she could in the exact opposite direction of her dwarves. As the spiders raced after it, excited by the thought of another poor soul to entrap and devour, Bella pulled the ring from her finger and darted forward, beginning to cut her companions free.

“Lass!” Bofur exclaimed when she got to him first, “Am I glad to see you. How did you -”

“Less talking more climbing.” She ordered, shoving past him, “Get to the ground as quickly as you-” the dwarf had jumped, “can.”

That would do it, she supposed.

The other’s started with similar questions, and Bella got very tired of saying “Escape first, questions later” and started just simply shoving them off the branch.

Fili and Kili in particular looked quite offended at her method but she didn’t have time to feel bad, she could already hear the spiders starting to return.

Thorin was the one she found last, already mostly free from his bindings by the time she reached him. “The others?” He grunted as Bella helped him strip away the last of the web.

“They got chatty so I pushed them.” She said honestly, pulling an obnoxious bit of webbing from her own hair, “But I’m sure they’re fine.” The rustling of the spiders got closer, “However, we will not be if we don’t get the hell out of here.”

Thorin looked over the edge of the branch and pulled Bella in towards him, wrapping one arm securely around her waist and unsheathing Orcrist with his free hand. “Close your eyes.” He said.

“What?” Bella asked, “Why?”

And then he jumped.

This time Bella did scream.

She did not like heights, she did not like heights, she did not like spiders, _she really, really did not like spiders or heights._

They hit the ground far sooner than Bella would have thought, Thorin’s knees bending to absorb the shock while Bella’s feet didn’t even touch the ground until he (very gently) lowered her onto it.

“You’re afraid of heights.” He said simply before turning to check on the rest of the company.

They were all alright, if  a little grumpy with their resident hobbit for pushing them out of a tree. Bella didn’t feel the least bit guilty; they never would have gotten out of the tree in time had she let them stand around and talk.

As it was they were just about to have to deal with the creepy crawlies again but at least now it was on the ground and with a chance to catch their breaths.

“This is the worst.” Bella muttered to herself, “The absolute worst.”

“What’s the matter, Bunny?” Kili asked and oh no, if he was going to start that she was going to start using him for target practice. “Afraid of spiders?”

The real revenge, however, was to watch how quickly Kili’s face dropped when she nodded and said, “And heights.”

And then the spiders were upon them and all Bella could do was shriek, very loudly, and join the dance, albeit a little clumsily, as the dwarves burst into action. She swung with her sword, getting more confident with the blasted thing every time she had to use it and didn’t die.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Bombur get tackled and she whirled around, out of the way of an attack coming at her, and rushed to help the others rescue their friend. She grabbed hold of one of the beast’s massive legs and pulled while a few of the others did the same, all tugging different directions until with a sickening pop and squelch, the legs pulled free of the spider’s body entirely.

Bella squeaked as Bombur shoved the rest of the spider off of him and ran it through, still holding the leg in her hands.

“Behind you, Bella!” Nori yelled and Bella turned just in time to smack a spider that was coming at her in the face with one of its friend’s limbs.

 _That was so wrong_.

“Thanks, Nori!” She called back, quickly trading the leg for her sword and jumping out of the way of the next attack. When the spider raised its legs, presumably to skewer Bella just to get her out of the way, she dodged under it and managed to stab it through its ugly face.

As she ducked away again, quick as a whip, she caught sight of Kili; going head to head with the largest of the spiders that she’d seen so far while another, almost as large, came up behind him.

Bella moved without thinking, weaving around dwarves and spiders alike in her haste to get to the youngest prince. “Kili!” She called out, “Kili there’s another one behind you!”

Kili whirled, and in doing so, gave the spider in front of him the perfect chance to attack.

Bella forced herself to move faster, but she didn’t have to. Before she could get there, arrows came from the trees around them, six of them hitting the spider in rapid succession.

The elves had arrived ( _that_ part she did write).

 

Bella slipped away, sliding the ring back onto her finger and disappearing completely; these were Mirkwood elves, Greenwood elves, elves who lived in the kingdom and who were loyal to Thranduil.

In Bella’s book, her version of the events that had been transpiring and unraveling around her for the better part of three months, the elf king had been the one to give the order that had gotten Thorin, Fili, and Kili killed.

Needless to say, she did not trust Thranduil as far as she could throw him.

So she hid as a beautiful, red haired elf saved Kili before she and the other elves swiftly dispatched the remaining spiders (Bella was proud to say that there weren’t many).

And stayed hidden as the company was rounded up like a herd of cattle. When the elves took their weapons the only thing that kept Bella from making her presence known was the knowledge that one barely trained not-a-hobbit had absolutely no chance against more than a dozen elves.

The tall blonde one (who Bella had heard insult Gloin's wife and son earlier with no small amount of disdain) started waving Orcrist in Thorin’s face and Bella quickly weaved her way through the assembled dwarves.

They would have learned about her ability sooner or later, no doubt. Maybe the surprise would keep Thorin from saying something stupid and getting himself shishkabobbed on his own bloody sword.

Bella grabbed hold of Thorin’s sleeve, carefully, leaning in and muttering “It’s just me, don’t panic.” into his ear.

The king’s shoulders tensed, his eyes darting to and fro, looking for any sight of her. “Bella?” He breathed.

“Pretend I’m not here. He just asked you where you got the sword.” She hissed urgently.

“It was given to me.” Thorin finally grunted, and oh, the rude blonde elf didn’t like that at all.

“A liar as well as a thief.” He said, and then the elves were shoving them all forward towards, if Bella had to guess, Thranduil’s kingdom.

“Where’s the hobbit?” Dwalin grunted and soon the entire company was rubber necking, looking for their tiniest member.

Bella very nearly slapped her own forehead. “Stop them!” She tugged on Thorin’s sleeve frantically.

“Stop it!” Thorin told him, softly. “She is keeping well hidden. Which will be very helpful to us in the long run as long as you idiots to not set this whole bloody brigade looking for her.”

The dwarves settled quickly and Bella heard Fili mumble to Kili, “Certainly good at hiding, our Bunny, isn’t she?”

Bella hissed out a breath through her teeth, “Remind me to hit them.”

“It wasn’t a problem when Beorn was calling you Little Bunny and carrying you around on his shoulders.”

Bella turned to the king with wide, astonished eyes though he couldn't see her, “Are you kidding me right now?” She asked, incredulously, “The man is eight feet tall and can literally turn himself into a bear.”

Like she was going to chance offending him and getting them all eaten?

“Are you talking to yourself, dwarf?” The red haired woman who saved Kili asked.

“Does it unsettle you?” Thorin grumped back, though there was a mischievous glint in his eyes that Bella had never seen before. Then again, he was related to Kili.

“No.” The woman looked away and Bella definitely caught Kili staring. Her lips twitched upwards.

 

Thranduil’s kingdom was lovely, though nowhere near the beauty of Rivendell in Bella’s eyes. Especially as they were dragged through deep, dark corridors and into the throne room.

Bella stayed close to Thorin, her hands wrapped around his sleeve so he knew she was there. Every so often she would catch one of the company looking around, trying to catch a glimpse of her and she would roll her eyes.

“They’re about as subtle as a tornado.” She grumbled to Thorin, though he never got a chance to reply as that was when the elf king made himself known.

Bella wrinkled her nose at him. He was even douchier in person.

And not  _Thorin_ douchey. Thorin was a douchey kitten. Thranduil was what The Sheriff of Nottingham aspired to be. _  
_

The rest of the company was spirited away to who knows where but Bella stayed with Thorin, loosening her grip on his sleeve to take his hand instead. Trying to give him something to tether him to the ground, to her, as he stood face to face with the elf who refused his people help when they needed it most.

Bella bet that there was no being on earth that Thorin Oakenshield hated more than the elf standing before them and she couldn’t blame him.

But he needed to bite his tongue if they wanted any chance of getting out of there.

“A noble cause,” Thranduil taunted, and Thorin’s hand tightened around Bella’s fingers, “to slay a dragon and reclaim one’s homeland. But that’s not the only reason you seek the mountain, is it?” The elf leaned in close and Bella held her breath, “No, no, no. You seek that which would give you the right to rule.”

 _Do not spit in his face, do not spit in his face_ … Bella kept telling herself, though he certainly had it coming and Thorin’s hand tightened enough that it _hurt,_ the bones of Bella’s fingers creaking ominously.

“ _The Arkenstone_.” Thranduil continued, completely unaware of Bella’s ill will; completely unaware of Bella in general.

Bella took a chance and glanced a Thorin’s face; he looked like he’d been slapped. His eyes large and a little sad. He looked away from Thranduil, looking right at Bella and she raised her free hand, ghosting her knuckles over his cheek gently.

She wished she could give him a pep talk, tell him that he wasn’t his grandfather. She wanted to somehow, someway, save him from the clutches of the goldsickness that was going to claim him.

But she couldn’t, at least not without revealing herself. So she stayed quiet, with one hand in his and the other moving to his hair when he turned back to Thranduil as the elf spoke again.

“I understand,” he said, “there are gems I also desire inside that mountain. White ones, made of pure starlight… And therefore, I offer you my help.”

Thorin opened his mouth, his eyebrows furrowing and Bella tugged harshly on his hair. He didn’t look happy about it, but he said, “I am listening.”

Bella relaxed, going back to gently petting at his hairline like he was a large, fluffy, ill tempered cat. He was probably going to be very cross at her later for trying to censor him, but as long as it kept him from eating his own foot…

“I will let you go, if you only return those gems to me.” Before Thorin could even think to reply he snapped his fingers, “And if that is not enough, I will also return something of yours that the elves of Rivendell have lost.” The doors behind them opened again and Bella whirled around with a gasp, knowing before her vision focused what, or rather who, was sitting in the redheaded elf’s arms.

Frodo looked well as ever, with flowers twinned into his hair as he babbled absently to the elf maiden who was holding him.

“Frodo!” Thorin said softly, and the fauntling looked over, his expression brightening.

“Thorin!” Frodo started wiggling and the elf looked to Thranduil; she was the same on who had saved Kili in the forest.

“Put him down, Tauriel.” Thranduil declared with a wave of his hand.

As soon as Frodo’s feet hit the ground he was running, throwing himself at Thorin with an excited squeal.

Bella couldn’t breathe; what was Frodo doing there? He was supposed to be in Rivendell with Elrond. She had trusted the elf lord with her nephew and he had lost him.

“Where’s Aunt Bella?” Frodo asked, peering around, “She’s always with you, where is she?”

“We picked up no woman in the forest.” Tauriel said softly, “No hobbits of any kind, to be more specific.”

Frodo looked heartbroken and Bella couldn’t let that go on. She slipped away, making sure she was behind a pillar before she pulled off the ring. She didn’t need elves asking questions.  “Hobbits are quite good at hiding, truth be told.” She said idly as she stepped into the open and her nephew’s excitement at seeing Thorin was nothing compared to his shriek when Bella came into view.

She picked him up as he got to her, burying her face in his curls and just breathing for a moment. She had missed him so terribly. “What are you _doing_ here, firefly?” She asked, pulling back the slightest bit to rub their noses together. “You were supposed to be in Rivendell with Elrond.”

“Yeah… but I knew this is where you were coming so I hid in the cart with the convoy that was headed this way and…”

“You sneaky little hobbit!” Bella exclaimed, “We left you in Rivendell because it wasn’t safe for you -”

“As heartwarming as this all is,” Thranduil interrupted, “do we have a deal, Thorin, son of Thrain?”

Bella looked to Thorin, her face pleading, but she didn’t have to. “We have a deal.” He hissed. “Now release my company. And return Frodo to Rivendell!”

Thranduil tutted, “You will of course stay for our festival, it would be bad manners to do anything less.”

Bella huffed, but said nothing. If Thorin couldn't be an ass then neither could she. Even if the elf king had just used her nephew as a bargaining chip.

Thranduil dismissed them (both Bella and Thorin bristled at that, though they said nothing) and they were lead to spacious quarters where the rest of the company were already gathered; they seemed quite thrilled to see Frodo. Fili and Kili nearly falling over themselves to get to the tiny hobbit who was just as happy to see then.

Bella looked up at Tauriel and noticed the small, bewildered smile on her face as she gazed at the princeling and made a note to tell him that he had a chance… when approximately zero of the other dwarves were around to hear their burglar encouraging their prince to try and woo an elf. She was pretty sure they would prefer him to fall for Azog himself.

“They seem… quite fond of him.” Tauriel said softly, only to Bella.

“Oh, they are.” Bella said back, just as softly, “I never see him when they’re around. One second he will be with me and the next Fili has him on the other end of the campfire or Kili has roped him into something or another.”

Tauriel laughed, covering her mouth with her hand and Kili looked over with the best real life representation of ‘Heart Eyes Motherfucker” Bella had ever seen. She didn't think that an elf would be attractive to a dwarf, or vice versa, but Tauriel returned Kili's heart eyes with a gentler version, her entire face softening into something sweet and unbelievably lovely. 

"You are tall." She said softly, "For a dwarf."

"And you aren't ugly at all," Kili said back, Frodo hanging off one his arms, "for an elf."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK SO THE DILDO THING HAPPENED BECAUSE MY FRIEND ASKED IF THEY HAD DILDOS IN MIDDLE EARTH AND I DIDNT KNOW BUT IT MADE ME LAUGH
> 
> The title of this chapter, as well as the song reference in this is "A Case of You" by Joni Mitchell, from the Practical Magic soundtrack.
> 
> Don't forget! You can find me on Tumblr - [HERE](http://stilesinerebor.tumblr.com/)


	4. All Of The Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bella and Thorin talk about their feelings... twice (and also there are barrels)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE 40 MINUTES TO GET THIS POSTED (and for some reason my italics never transfer over so I need to do it manually) ...BREAK!

Mirkwood elves definitely knew how to party. And, thankfully, most of them were nowhere near as intolerable as their king. As a matter of fact, Bella found that she quite liked most of them.   
They had lovely singing voices and made sure her goblet of wine was never empty.

Fili and Kili pulled her aside and told her that she should definitely have a very good time at the feast and that she definitely should not worry about Frodo, they had him covered. When asked why they just said that she’d had a couple of very rough days and that she deserved to eat and drink and not have to constantly have to keep tabs on her nephew.

She was oddly touched, and though she told them it wasn’t necessary they didn’t relent and eventually she gave in.

And she _was_ enjoying herself immensely, and on top of it all she was _clean_ which was fabulous to say the least.

She’d let her hair hang down, for the most part, just loosely braiding around her head like she’d shown the dwarves in Beorn’s living room, borrowing a pretty pin from Tauriel to be able to secure it without the ponytail, and she thought the effect was quite pretty with the pale gold dress she’d been given to wear while her clothes were cleaned.

“Still making elvish clothes look dashing, I see.” Bofur sidled up next to her, his own mug of ale in his hands.

“If I didn’t know better, Master Bofur,” she teased, “I’d think you were flirting with me.”

“Why, I wouldn’t dare, lass.” He winked at her, “But I will say that you are about the only pleasant thing to look at on this whole journey.”

Bella let her head loll to the side slightly, catching Nori staring at the miner. “Oh really?” She asked, sending the thief her own wink as he made his way closer, “I’ll just tell Nori that won’t I?”

Bofur started to cough, “I’m sure I haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re going on about.”

“Really?” Bella asked, a laugh in her voice, “Because he’s coming this way.”

Bofur whirled around, his eyes settling on Nori as his lips spread in a slow grin.

“Oh yeah, you totally have no idea what I’m talking about.” Bella laughed, giving him a gentle shove forward, “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

They stumbled off together, Bofur throwing Bella vaguely worried looks over his shoulder as she waved him away. They deserved a little bit of happiness.

“Are you matchmaking within my company?” Thorin asked, appearing at Bella’s other side and for once she didn’t jump.

Perhaps she was a little looser than she thought from the wine, “I am just giving them a push in the right direction.” She replied, waving her hand. “I haven’t seen the boys in a while.” Meaning Frodo, Fili and Kili.

“My nephews have taken yours up to stargaze with that redheaded elf.” Thorin sounded less than happy about the idea, though it elated Bella.

They hadn’t spoken of the ring (or as far as Thorin knew, whatever strange magic that had turned Bella invisible). But then, if Bella was truly the only (not-)hobbit Thorin had ever met, perhaps he simply thought it was something that all hobbits could do. They were, after all, extremely talented at not being seen when they put their minds to it. Maybe he thought it was literal.

“Her name is Tauriel.” She said, “And she’s really not that bad. Frodo likes her immensely.”

“Your nephew would make friends with an _orc_ if given the chance.” Thorin pointed out and, well, he wasn’t wrong.

“Better to befriend an orc than act like one.” She mumbled. “If I hadn’t been there you would have called Thranduil some horribly offensive things and gotten us all locked in the dungeon.” And then who knows what would have become of poor Frodo?

“Did you just imply that I act like an orc?”

Bella snorted, finally turning to the king and realizing with no small amount of shock that he had, in fact, bathed and changed into the clothes the elves had provided. She hadn’t expected that. The others had, of course, but they weren’t as stubborn as Thorin by a long shot.

“I implied nothing.” She managed to say, “I outright said it.”

Thorin hummed thoughtfully before leaning against the wall next to her, slouching so deeply that he was only an inch or two taller than her. “And I suppose your manners are so much better?”

“Why, yes actually.” Bella laughed, “My manners are better. Because I did not tell Thranduil where exactly I wished for him to shove his deal when he held my nephews safety over your head.” She paused then, “I ought to thank you.”

“For what? Also not telling the tree-shagger where to shove his deal?” The dwarf’s mouth twitched into a smile and Bella smiled back, soft and full of quiet gratitude.

“Well, yes. But because when he brought Frodo in you did not hesitate. You accepted his deal and I know how much that cost you personally and _I want to thank you_.”

Thorin shook his head, a lock of his now clean hair escaping the low horsetail he had tied it back into and swinging about his face. “Do not thank me for something you would have done for Fili and Kili were you in my place.”

“But I am thanking you.” Bella said, “So just accept it and let us move on.”

The king laughed, tilting his head to the side and meeting her eyes, “You are welcome, Miss. Baggins, for doing the only thing that a decent dwarf would do.”

Bella laughed then, her fingers tapping against the wall in time to the beat of the elf’s drums; “Dance with me?” She said, suddenly, surprising both herself and her companion. “I mean… There is music and this dress is so flowy that would be an absolute shame not to twirl in it.”

“Are we going to make it a tradition?” Thorin asked, still smiling down at her, “Dancing whenever we are in an elven kingdom?”

“Well, I was hoping to begin to _avoid_ elven kingdoms.” She said honestly, “So maybe we should make it a tradition to dance whenever there is music?”

“I like that.” Thorin said, holding out his hand, “So you decree it, so it shall be.”

Bella laughed, sliding her hand into the dwarf’s and letting him pull her away from the wall. “In that case I decree that you all need to bathe every other day and that no one is allowed to ever call me “Little Bunny” again.”

“Done.” Thorin said very seriously.

“I’m holding you to that one. I swear it. Baths need to happen, you lot don’t smell very nice after you’ve been baking in the sun for three days.” Bella said, using Thorin’s hand to lead him into the throng of dancing elves and dwarves.

Thorin lead them this time and Bella was equal parts surprised and suspicious, “So when you told me to ‘show you’ in Rivendell…?”

“What?” Thorin asked, his lips twitching up into a grin, “I can’t hear you.”

Bella’s laughed echoed in the chambers as Thorin spun her around. “I see how it is you sneaky dwarf.” Though she didn’t actually see what the point of him pretending to need her help was.

He drew her in close then, close enough that she could count his eyelashes should she choose to, “Still can’t hear you.” He said, lowly. And though he still hadn’t mentioned the kiss she thought, for a moment, that he was going to do it again.

“Is that so?” She asked, raising her hand to push that one lock of hair back behind his ear, “Then I guess you won’t hear -”

“Heads up!” Fili yelled, and then there was a fiddle flying over the tops of their heads. Bella looked up with a start, watching the instrument sail through the air until it was caught easily by Kili, who was _standing on a table_.

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled horse manure music to bring you something with a little more life.” Kili announced, “By the request of our littlest cousin.” At this point Frodo made himself known, climbing onto the table next to the princeling and bowing deeply.

“What are they doing?” Thorin hissed, his eyes narrowing.

“I don’t know.” Bella said back, “But we should probably get out of here before people realize that those are _our_ little trouble makers.” She pulled away from him, keeping a solid grip on his hand, and pulled him away from the crowd. “I saw stairs over here.”

“You’re just going to let them-”

“What better way to get back at Thranduil without inciting war?” She asked with the most mischievous smile she could muster, continuing to pull him along, “There is no possible way that he could declare war on us over a group of our _children_ getting a little rowdy at a party without him looking like the bad guy, which he can’t have. But is it sure going to piss him off.”

Thorin’s eyes widened, “Brilliant.”

“Isn’t it?” Bella asked, “Now come on, a little fresh air will do us good and I’m sure these stairs lead to a,” she pushed open a large, ornate door at the top, “balcony.” She breathed, her eyes widening at the beauty around her. “Oh wow…” Stars, stars, and nothing but stars all around her.

Stars and stars and Thorin.

She took a few steps forward, bracing her arms on the railing, “Isn’t this just the best thing you’ve ever seen?” She asked.

“I have seen the stars before, _Âzyungel_.” Thorin came to stand beside her.

“I have as well.” She said, her eyes still glued to the sky, not even caring that he was using Khuzdul she didn’t know again, “But looking at these stars I feel as if I am seeing them for the first time. Have there always been so _many_?”

She wondered if they were the same stars that she gazed upon back home, from her little house in Bristol. Further inspection showed that yes, yes they were. She could pick out constellations that were as familiar to her as breathing.

“Perhaps they’ve just made a special effort to be out tonight because you’re looking so closely.” Thorin said and Bella’s heart appeared very suddenly in her throat.

“Are you implying the stars are shining just for me?” She asked.

“Oh, I implied nothing.” Thorin said, “I outright said it.”

Bella smiled, ducking her head so her hair hid her blushing cheeks, “That’s cheating.” She said, “Sending my own words back at me.”

Thorin hummed noncommittally, “I see you’ve found pins for your hair. Did Fili have some stashed away?”

“Huh?” Bella lifted a hand to the braid at the side of her head, her fingers brushing over the soft strands, “No, Tauriel gave me some.”

“The elf?” Thorin’s shoulders stiffened, “You accepted gifts from the elf?”

Bella blinked; it was just a hairpin. “I accepted one hair pin that I fully intend on giving back.” She fiddled with the fabric of her dress, “I figured I should do something nice with my hair to go with the dress.” Now she felt a little self conscious about that whole thing. “Do I look stupid?”

Thorin relaxed, “No.” He said softly, “No, you don’t look stupid. But… the pin doesn’t really suit you”.

“No?” Bella asked, and before her eyes Thorin reached up into his own hair and pulled one of the smaller braids free, tugging the small bead from the end of it and holding it up for her to see, “Your bead? What are you doing with that?”

He moved her hand away from the braid, “Fixing your hair.” He answered, quickly swapping out Tauriel’s pin for his bead. “This suits you much better.”

“Why?” She asked, reaching up against to run her fingers over the bead; it was warm to the touch.

“Because you don’t have to give it back.” He said and there was something so, so heavy about the words though Bella didn’t understand why.

“Well I… Thank you.” She said, lowering her hand and smiling at him.

He looked beautiful in the starlight.

They could still hear the music; loud and upbeat since Fili and Kili had taken it over and Thorin held out a hand to her.

“There’s hardly enough room.” She said, gesturing to the maybe eleven square feet of space around them with one hand and taking his with the other.

“And yet, you still take my hand.” He pointed out, tugging her in close.

“I trust you.” She said.

And she really did; even knowing all he had done and all he was going to do, she trusted him implicitly, not only with her life but with the life of her nephew.

“Some say that’s not wise.”

“Send them my way, I’ll beat a little bit of sense into them.” She said, laughing as Thorin twirled her out away from him, her flowy, elvish dress floating around her ankles like gossamer fairy cloth.

“I do not doubt it, Miss. Baggins.”

“Why,” Bella asked as she was pulled back in, her hands pressing into Thorin’s chest, “do you always call me that?”

“It’s your name, is it not?”

“My name is _Bella_.” She stressed. “You should use it.”

“Your _name_ ,” Thorin said with a wicked little grin, “is Belladonna. And I think I will.”

“Will what?”

“I think I will use your name, Belladonna.”

Bella laughed, lowering her head to rest it on his shoulder. Generally, she wasn’t a fan of her first name; it was too long, a little old fashioned for the time and place she lived, and more than that it was her mother’s name and as much as Bella loved the woman she was _not_ her. But there, in Arda, on an elvish balcony on her way to slay a dragon, she found she didn’t mind when Thorin, son of Thrain, king under The Lonely Mountain used it. “Anything to get you to stop calling me Miss. Baggins.”

“Even Little Bunny?”

“I will hit you.” She warned, not lifting her head. “Very hard. You will not like it.”

“Are you quite sure about that?”

She looked up then, startled by how close he was though she really should not have been. “I have absolutely no idea what to say about that.”

Thorin’s eyes widened playfully, “You mean to say I rendered the great Belladonna Baggins speechless?”

Bella half wanted to tell him to back up a foot or so so her wits would return but she didn’t. She quite liked having him pressed up against her. “Don’t get cocky.” She mumbled instead.

The king laughed, beginning to move them to the music again, too slow really, for the tempo Fili and Kili set, but Bella wasn’t complaining.

The song almost reminded her of something on her Ipod back home, and Bella felt a stirring of homesickness; not for anything in particular, just the cozy familiarity of her little house. She sighed, wishing she had her grandmother’s blanket, or maybe just a few extra underthings and a toothbrush.

She was making do, but there was only so long one could stretch one bra and one pair of underwear and she’d already had to have Dori stitch the underwire back in three times.

“You have that look on your face again.” Thorin said softly.

Bella came back to herself with a start, her fingers curling in the soft material of his shirt; it was so strange for him to be in anything but his heavy coat and dwarvish tunic. “What? What look?”

“Like you’re far away from me inside your own head.”  His hands were running up and down her back, his fingers flexing against her dress, “I can’t help but wonder what you’re thinking of.”

“Home, mostly.” Bella shrugged, “Things I left behind, books I never read, clean clothes. Running water.” And she didn’t say it but  _tampons_.  Oh, tampons. She had taken to using strips of ruined clothes inside her pants the three times she’d had her period while in Arda and it had been truly horrible.

“What about people?” Thorin asked.

They’d stopped moving, Bella didn’t know when but they had, and she was just looking up at him, so close she could see the stars shining in his eyes. “There’s just Frodo and I.” She said, “His parents were my dearest friends but they died a year ago. My parents died when I was twenty and the rest of my family thinks me to be mad.”

“Mad?”

“Oh yes,” her lips twitched into a smile, “mad, old Bella Baggins.” She reached up, smoothing out the furrow growing between his brow, “It doesn’t bother me much. But it also doesn’t make me inclined to miss them.” She shook her head, “No, everyone I care about is right here with me. Frodo, the company, and...and you.” She wasn’t sure why she counted him apart from the rest of the company.

Except, that was a lie.

She counted him as different because her feelings for him were different.

“And me?” He asked.

“And you.”

Thorin smiled at her then, ducking his head and pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “And _you_.”

Bella’s heart stopped. “I…” She stopped and tried to swallow past the lump in her throat, “You kissed me.”

Thorin tried to laugh it off, “That can hardly be called a kiss-”

“Before we fell into the goblin caves.” She interrupted, “I was yelling at you and you kissed me and then _you never brought it up again_.” Bella took a step back, putting distance between herself and Thorin, “And then you accused me of.. of _leaving_ you all. And then at Beorn’s house you were… and then when I had my panic attack and now this… and you’re such an _ass_ and, Thorin, I don’t know what you want from me-”

“What I want from you,” Thorin’s face pinched in confusion, “is not the question, but rather, what are you willing to give?”

“I.. I don’t follow.”

“I want whatever you’ll give me, Belladonna.” There should be a law against him looking at her like he was waiting for her to break his heart. Like he wouldn’t mind.

Bella couldn’t handle it; she was still trying to pretend that the feelings she had for Thorin didn’t exist. She could not fall in love with him. It was not a thing that was even slightly in the realm of possibility. “We… we can’t.” She whispered, brokenly. “You’re a king and I’m a… I’m a hobbit. And you’re from here and Frodo and I will have to go _home_ -”

“But you don’t have to go back.” Thorin closed the space between them again, cupping her face in his hands like he’d done in the forest, “You could stay.”

“I’m  not entirely sure I have a choice, Thorin.” Her eyes stung. “I _want_ to stay.” She said, just to try out the words that had been rattling around in her subconscious for as far back as Beorn’s house, but once she said them she couldn't stop saying them. “I want to stay. _I want to stay_.”

She shouldn’t want to stay; she should be anxious to get home, back to Bristol, 2015, where Frodo was safe and there were no orcs and no _dwarves._

Everything was so messed up and things were changing and she still had no idea what she was even doing in Arda and they still had to deal with the dragon and the goldsickness and she had to stop Thranduil’s army from slaughtering her dwarves and it was all so much that she should want nothing more than to go promptly home and never think of the world of Arda ever again as long as she lived.

But...

Thorin pulled her into his arms, fully, letting her cling to his shirt and hide her face. “Then stay.”

* * *

Things… shifted.

Nothing really changed but at the same time everything was different.

To the point where, when Bella told Thorin they had to leave three days later, that Thranduil was not planning on just letting them go, and that Bella had gotten her information from an elf.... Thorin just trusted her.

Without a second thought.

“Tauriel says we need to leave; Thranduil is going to double cross us.” She had said and Thorin didn’t second guess her, he didn’t sneer at her friendship with the tall, elf woman, didn’t suggest that she was being fooled.

Bella trusted Tauriel and Thorin trusted Bella.

So when Bella said they had to go, Thorin got the company together and started making plans to escape - beginning with Bella taking her sword (which she had been privately referring to as Sting) and cutting through the bottom of her dress, this one blue with beading along the hemline, making it more practical for fleeing from elves.

And when Bella said she found the way out but it was really going to suck (suck so, so, so bad. Nothing about riding down a river in a barrel sounded pleasant to her) Thorin winced but followed her down into the cellar.

She didn’t realize Frodo was with them until she was shoving Fili and Kili into their barrels. “What are you doing here, firefly?” She asked for the second time in as many days. “Tauriel said she would bring you back to Rivendell for me.”

“Are you really trusting the elf with your nephew?” Dwalin grunted, earning himself rather unhappy glowers from not only Bella and Frodo, but also Kili.

“Tauriel is trustworthy.” The youngest prince declared, “Even if she is an elf.”

“You’re staying with Tauri-”

“We do not have time to argue.” Thorin finally snapped. “He’s going to have to come.”

“Thorin.” Bella hissed, her teeth clenching in her skull as she took a few very deep breaths, covered Frodo’s ears, and forced herself not to murder the king she maybe loved, “Frodo cannot come. There is _water_ under us. We are taking the barrels _up river_. Frodo’s parents _drowned_.”

“What does that have to do -”

“The lad is scared of water.” Bofur finally said, understanding dawning, “Isn’t he?”

Bella nodded very slowly. “Deathly. Getting him to take baths is an adventure.”

Thorin’s face paled. “I did not realize…”

“Obviously.” Bella snapped, uncovering Frodo’s ears and adjusting him in her arms. “You cannot come with us, firefly.”

“Someone is coming, lass!” Oin said urgently from inside his own barrel.

“I will take him.” Fili said, holding his arms out. “I will keep him safe, Bella.”

Bella looked behind her, where the fast approaching of elves thundered as loud as a pack of elephants, and relented. “Frodo, love, I’m so sorry,” she had been saying that a lot lately, “I’m so sorry but you’re going to have to be really, really brave for me okay?”

Frodo looked confused as Bella passed him to Fili, already in his barrel. “Keep hold of him tightly.”

Fili nodded, determined and Bella stepped towards the lever that would send the floor tilting.

“Wait!” Kili said, “Bella you don’t have a barrel.”

Bella looked around, quickly realizing he was right. She’d miscounted. “Oh…” She said, but she didn’t have time to be worried about it. The footsteps were coming closer. “I’ll just share with one of you. I’m certainly small enough. Now hold your breath and Frodo, be brave.”

And she pulled the lever, jumping down after them before the floor could close and landing with a splash in the cool water. She was shivering in seconds as her head broke the surface of the water.

Thorin breathed out a relieved sigh that sounded like her name as warm fingers curled around her arm , hauling her up and out of the water and into the barrel with him like she weighed absolutely nothing at all.

“Well done, Belladonna.” He said.

Bella peered over the edge, “Frodo?” She asked.

“Under my shirt.” Fili said, and sure enough Bella could just barely glimpse her nephew’s dark curls peeking up from under the elder prince’s collar.

“Wrap him in your coat too.” Bella advised, “And hum.”

Thorin urged them on as Fili did what he was told and Bella kept watchful eyes on the barrel that held the heir to the lonely mountain and the heir to Belladonna Took’s crystal china.

There was hardly enough room in the barrel for both her and Thorin and because of that they were pressed so tightly together that not even air could press between them. Bella craning her neck around to keep Frodo and Fili in her line of sight even as the currents grew rougher and rougher.

It was like the world’s most terrifying rollercoaster as the elves began to catch up and then Thorin’s breath hitched. Bella followed his gaze and swallowed her own shriek as Thorin yelled for the company to hold on the second before their barrel went over the edge of the fall.

This time Bella did scream in the second she could before her everything was obstructed by water.

She came up coughing and blinking salt water from her eyes, frantically searching for Frodo even as the barrel she and Thorin were in continued to move with the current. There was panic building in her chest, niggling in the back of her head as they were bumped and jolted and smashed against rocks,; her hands quickly becoming bloody and scratched though she couldn’t feel the sting, numb from the cold as the majority of her was.

Bella clenched her eyes shut, tucking her face against Thorin’s neck, her everything shaking with more than the frigid water as she tried to regain control. She had ride it out and get her head back in the game, that was the reality of it all.

Thorin wrapped his arms around her as they were thrown around like children’s toys and Bella tried to slow her breathing but it was going under water again was what did it for her, actually. She had forgotten that holding one’s breath was said to help.

When she looked up again her heart soared; it looked like they were going to get out; it really did. Naturally, that was when the elves got their shit together and shut the gate.

Bella and Thorin’s barrel hit the metal bars first, Bella crying out in distress as the rest of the company piled in right on top of them.

Shit, shit, shit.

Bella searched for Fili and Frodo, finding them at the back with Kili; but neither prince was paying attention to her, they were looking upwards, the only ones who were able to see what was going on, with matching horrified expressions on their faces.

“Orcs!” Kili shouted as Fili ducked down inside his barrel to keep Frodo completely covered.

“We need to get out of here.” Bella hissed, “Sooner rather than later.”

She started wiggling, pushing herself upwards and out of the barrel.

“What are you doing?” Thorin asked, alarmed. “You just had -”

Bella ignored him, and finally pulled her feet out from under the king’s ass. She slid over the side of the barrel, quickly learning how hard it was to swim when most of her limbs were unwilling to function correctly. “I’m opening the gate.” She said, before she ducked under the water.

She had to swim under the rest of the company; they were all packed too tightly for her to even dream of trying to get out any other way, except perhaps walking across all of their heads and she doubted they would like that very much.

Also, if the muffled yelling she heard was any indication, none of them particularly liked the idea of her being the one to pull the lever. But she was smaller and quicker and she wasn’t weighed down by seventy pounds of dwarvish armor.

Any of the dwarves, with the exception of possibly Ori, would have sunk like a stone.

Bella surfaced near the boys, grabbing onto Kili’s barrel to keep herself up as she gasped in quick, deep breaths and blinked the water from her eyes. She peered up at the very worried princeling and tried for a smile, “Cover me?” She asked nodding to his bow.

“I can’t shoot properly from this thing…” He mumbled, and then a second later he was in the water next to her.

Bella could have laughed; the youngest and the hobbit. Well, at the very least maybe they’d stop treating her with kid gloves if she didn’t die.

The first orc took the plunge into the water then, on top of Gloin, sending Kili and Bella off to the side. They scrambled for the shore, paying little attention to what was happening inside the river as Bella made a beeline for the lever. The twang of Kili’s bow was recognizable over the elves’ with how familiar it was to her by this point.  

The shouting coming from the dwarves was nearly deafening, they were by far the loudest involved in the squabble, and as Bella’s fingers closed around the sun-warm metal of the lever something collided with her shoulder hard. She cried out, her voice lost in the cacophony of sound, and she turned on instinct, swinging around with her other arm and slamming her first into the orc’s left eye.

He stumbled back, not expecting the little hobbit to retaliate and landed in the water while Bella shook out her hand and cursed her luck.

It was always the _same shoulder_. At least it was still where it was supposed to be, this time around.

But then she faced a new problem; she couldn’t actually pull the lever. She was strong, stronger than she’d been when she’d first started the journey and probably stronger than the average not-hobbit, but the lever was meant to be pulled by elves, who may not have a lot of bulk _proportionally_ speaking but who were definitely a lot larger than Bella. Even using all of her body weight the damn thing wouldn’t _budge._

“Kili!” She called, searching for the youngest Durin and forcing herself not to seek out his brother and Frodo.

They were fine. The others would protect them; she had to trust the company.

Kili appeared at her side, his hands wrapping around the lever with hers as he started to pull without a word.

“Belladonna!” Someone called, “Behind you!”

Bella turned, leaving Kili to deal with the blasted lever and freeing Sting from its sheath just in time to ram it through an orc’s chest. She pulled it free and fell  into a stance she’d seen Fili use while sparring with Thorin, quickly lifting it back up to block an axe coming towards her head before kicking at the orcs knee and grinning triumphantly at Tauriel. “Got it handled!” She yelled back, enjoying the way the elf captain laughed, like it was all a big game, before she turned to dispatch an orc heading for Thranduil’s son -Lagless?

 _“Namaduh_!” Kili shouted and then there was an arm around her, picking her up off the ground and forcefully turning her a split second before Kili cried out in her ear.

“Kili!” Bella gasped though it was overshadowed by Fili’s desperate wail. She looked down, all of the blood rushing from her face at the sight of the arrow sticking out of Kili’s leg.

“M’fine.” He grunted, though he was leaning almost all of his weight on her.

She was hardly the size to hold an almost full grown dwarf’s bodyweight but she didn’t complain, looping her arm around him and trying her best to hold him up. “Why did you do that?” She asked, a little frantically, backing them up and pressing against the stone as the battle raged around them.

“Couldn’t let it hit _you_.” He said, and then he lurched forward, out of her arms, and pulled the stupid _fucking_ lever.

Bella shouted as an arrow soared past her head, though once she realized it was Tauriel shooting her panic dimmed a tad. Tauriel wouldn’t hit her. Tauriel hit the orcs coming for her while she stood there and panicked like a lump.

She really liked that elf, she thought as she finally got her head back in the game and slashed out with her sword, catching an orc across the belly but not standing around to watch him fall .

“Kili! Bella!” Bofur yelled; the rest of the company had already been swept away by the currant, only the miner was still there, braced between two large rocks and holding Kili’s empty barrel for them. “Hurry!”

Bella looked to Tauriel, nodding at the elf and nearly smiling as she nodded back; she would cover them while they fled.

“Come on.” Bella hauled Kili to his feet and staring down at the arrow protruding from his leg forlornly; “Oh, God’s Kee, I am so sorry.” This was really going to suck.

“For wh-” He cut off with an echoing yell as Bella yanked the arrow free with one firm pull, muttering apologies all the while.

Bofur helped her get the prince into the empty barrel, and then held her hand to steady her while she climbed in herself.

Then it was back on the rollercoaster.

Most of the orcs were gone by the time that they took the plunge, having either stayed to fight the elves or followed the rest of the company and been dispatched along the way. Bofur and Bella handled the stragglers fairly easily while it looked like it took everything Kili had to not be sick over the side of the barrel.

Bella was feeling rather green herself.

It wasn’t hard to figure out where the rest of the company ended up; mostly because they were still there. Twelve wet, dirty, anxious dwarves who didn’t give Bella and Kili time to get out of the barrels themselves.

Bella was lifted into Thorin’s arms and set on her feet before she’d even had time to shove away the wet hair clinging to her face and Fili had Kili in a similar position a moment later, though the elder prince heavily supported his still green brother.

“Frodo?” Bella gasped, the full effects of the last maybe-an-hour hitting her at once. She swayed alarmingly to the left despite Thorin’s anchoring hands on her shoulders.

“Bombur.” The king barked and the next second Bella had an armful of trembling baby hobbit clinging desperately to her neck.

Frodo’s curls were flattened to his head and his clothes clung to his skin wetly; Bella was sure she looked about the same, her torn dress becoming increasingly more uncomfortable the longer she stood around in it.

Bella turned away from the rest of the company and rocked Frodo gently, humming quietly until her nephew’s shaking subsided. She hated that he had to go through that. She hated that he had to go through any of what he had and she was going to well and truly _murder_ Galadriel for ever bringing him into Arda in the first place.

If she ever got a hold of the damned elf to get some bloody answers.

Thorin was checking on Kili the next time Bella chose to pay the dwarves any attention, hovering over Oin’s shoulder as the medic examined Kili’s leg closely and then ripping off part of his own tunic for Oin to bind the wound with.

“How’s the shoulder, lass?”

Bella faced the gray haired dwarf with a sheepish smile, “Sore.” She admitted, “But alright. Though I think I broke my knuckle when I punched that orc.”

“Your shoulder _again_?” Thorin asked at the same time Ori exclaimed, “You punched an _orc_?”

She chose to ignore Thorin’s accusation, turning to very pointedly tell Ori, “Yes, and now my hand hurts terribly so I don’t recommend it.”

Nevertheless, Ori looked inappropriately thrilled, “All the hobbits in the world and we get the one the punches orcs.”

“And kings.” Kili pointed out, still gaunt and pale but smiling as he leaned against his brother, “You all missed it, but Fee and I saw her hit uncle outside the cave before we were goblin-napped.”

Bella froze so suddenly that Frodo lifted his head to peer at her questioningly, “You saw that?” She asked.

“We saw the whole fight.” Fili said, far too innocently, and Bella shared a properly horrified look with Thorin.

“Right up until Bella noticed your sword glowing, uncle.” Kili said.

 _Those little shits_.

Thorin got himself together first, while Bofur was still (very gently) clapping Bella on the back for having “the biggest balls of all of them”, and Balin was very grumpily handing coins to Dwalin, Nori, Bifur, _and_ Gloin. “There is an orc pack on our tail.” He hissed, “We need to keep moving.”

“Moving _where_?” Fili asked.

Bella pursed her lips, looking around and very nearly smiling when her eyes landed on the barge banked at the river. She’d always liked Bard. “We could always ask the owner of that.” She said, pointing.

“But where is the owner?” Balin asked, peering around Bella’s shoulder.

“Try looking above you.”

Bella craned her neck back, and back, and back a little bit more. “Wow,” she said, “you’re tall.”

Bard paused, his bow lowering the slightest bit, “You’re a woman.”

“Really?” She asked, in much the same tone she used with Thorin when he was being particularly thick, “I hadn’t noticed.” Frodo giggled, pressing his face into her neck. “My name is Bellad-.” she paused, “Bella. My name is Bella. This is my nephew, Frodo, and the rest of them are our company. We could use a little help.”

The bow dropped fully, “What kind of help?”

Balin stepped up fully then, taking over, “The kind we will pay you for.” He nodded to the barge, “Those boots and coat have seen better days. No doubt there are people relying on you.”

Bard paused, his eyes flicking from Balin to Bella and back again while the rest of the company thankfully (surprisingly) remained quiet, “A boy and two girls.” He finally said.

“And your wife?” Bella asked, adjusting Frodo in her arms as her shoulder started to protest. “She must be lovely.”

The bargeman nodded, “She was. She looked a little like you, actually. Red hair, small. Lovely smile.”

Bella’s cheeks flamed and she ducked her head, “That’s the best compliment I’ve received in a while.” She said honestly.

Behind them, Thorin grunted unhappily.

“Enough with the small talk.” Dwalin said and Bella actually did give into the impulse to smack her own forehead.

_Dwarves._

“I want to know who you are.” Bard said, turning away from Bella and Balin and instead narrowing his eyes at the rest of the company, “And what you are doing here. I know where those barrels come from and I am not eager to invoke the wrath of the elven king.”

“We’re merchants.” Balin said before anyone else could swallow their foot, “We’re going to visit family in the Iron Hills.” He paused, shady eyeing Bella, “For a wedding.”

“A wedding?” Bard echoed.

Bella’s eyebrows flew to her hairline though she confirmed, “A wedding.”

“Her wedding, actually.” Kili piped up, his grin wicked, and suddenly Bella knew exactly what he was going to say, “To my uncle.”

Fili started to giggle, “Bella is going to be Aunt Bella by the end of the month.” He agreed.

Bella was going to murder them both.

“Uncle Thorin!” Frodo exclaimed, clapping his hands. “Uncle Thorin, Uncle Thorin!”

“That’s it.” She muttered to Balin while Bard was distracted, “I’m grounding all of them.”

“You have to go with it now.” Balin mumbled back, plastering on a smile as Bard turned their attention back to them.

“You’re Thorin?” The Man asked with a raised brow.

Balin laughed heartily, “No, no, no.” Balin reached back to point in Thorin’s general direction, “I am Balin.” Bella saw Thorin step forward out of the corner of her eye, “That is Thorin.”

“The grumpy one.” Bella added.

“So why is… Balin…negotiating with you while your fiance stands back there?”

“I just said he was grumpy.” Bella rolled her eyes, her lips twitching into a small smile, “He’s not good with strangers. I very nearly tied a sign around his neck when he met my family, “Does Not Play Well With Others.” My poor cousin Lobelia didn’t know what hit her.” If only.

“We need food.” Thorin said, taking his place next to Bella and carefully extracting the still beaming Frodo from her arms. “Supplies.”

“Dry clothes.” Bella motioned to her ruined dress, “Emphasis on the clothes, really.”

“No one enters Laketown without the Master’s say so,” Bella grimaced; the Master was truly a horrible, horrible human being, “and he would sooner see you in irons than risk his trade agreement with the woodland realm.”

“Then I suppose,” Bella said, easily, rolling her sore shoulder discreetly, trying to stretch it out, “we need a smuggler.”

“For which we will pay extra.” Balin added, sending her a grateful smile.

“Double.” Bella cut in, "We will pay you double."

Thorin sat next to her on the barge, which she figured was appropriate, since he was now her husband to be for the entirety of their stay in Laketown; which would be a few days if she had anything to say about it.

Her head was already starting to ache. The cold water and truly obnoxious levels of stress combining to wreak absolute havoc on her body.

“How’s your shoulder?” Thorin asked, softly, Frodo having been lulled to sleep in his lap by the excitement of the day and the gentle rocking of the boat.

“It’s fine, Thorin.” Bella rolled her eyes, wincing as it aggravated her headache. “I didn’t get-” she paused, checking to see that Bard was otherwise occupied, “I didn’t get hit that hard. It’s Kili you should be worried about; who knows what was on that arrow.”

“Kili assures me he is fine.”

“Oh, so you believe him and not me?” She asked indignantly before sighing and rubbing at her forehead, “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to snap.” She was cold and tired and hungry and definitely getting sick and she was taking it out on Thorin when all he had done was worry about her.

“I was terrified.” The king said after a moment, “One minute you were in my arms where I could protect you and the next you were out there. And then Fili said Kili had been shot with an arrow and -”

“And you worried.” Bella managed a smile, “I’m flattered you would worry about me.”

“I have worried for you since the moment you stepped out your door, Belladonna Baggins.” He admitted, “That is why…” He paused, lowering his eyes to the floor. “That is why I tried so hard to...to make you go. I was cruel in hopes you would leave. I wanted you safe.”

“You were being… cruel to be kind?” She asked, reaching over and curling her fingers through his much larger ones, “That is… quite a bit better than what I had thought.”

“What did you think?”

“That you hated me!” She said with a small laugh. “That’s why I was so terribly confused when you…” When he kissed her.

Bella looked away, out at the water. Draped in fog and offering an almost… anonymity for their talk. They were quiet, anyhow, and no one was close enough to overhear, but the fog made it feel like the very air was keeping their secrets.

Thorin squeezed her hand, gently, so, so gently. “I am sorry.”

“Did you really think I had left?” She asked, “When I was hiding behind the tree after we escaped the goblins… did you really think I had just abandoned you all?”

“Part of me hoped you had.” He said, “Then, not only would you be safe, but you would have given me something to use to not… feel as I do. But to answer your question, no. No, I never really thought for moment that you had left us. It’s not in your nature.”

“The nature of hobbits?”

“The nature of Belladonna Baggins.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIVE MINUTES TO SPARE I AM GOOD
> 
> So, like I said I am on a major time crunch rn (I received the ever lovely "Oh, btw you're working tonight" call) so there are probably typos sorry remember ily
> 
> Title of the chapter (and of the fic in general) from All of The Stars by Ed Sheeran
> 
> And as always you can find me on tumblr [HERE](http://stilesinerebor.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Toodaloo *blows kiss and runs around trying to find lipstick*


	5. Miles To Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the rating changes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I doodled Bella in Laketown, purely for my own enjoyment. 
> 
> The post is - [HERE](http://stilesinerebor.tumblr.com/post/122530388365/look-at-that-bella-d-from-chapter-5-of-the)

Bella had hoped that, since everything else was changing, maybe their way into Laketown would also be just _slightly_ different (and less smelly) than she had written.

It wasn’t.

Bella was once again stuffed in a barrel with Thorin and then covered in fish before having to climb through Bard’s toilet in order to get into his house unseen, which was just as unpleasant as she’d imagined it would be.

But after that she was able to change out of her ruined clothes into a dress she had borrowed from Tilda, Bard’s youngest daughter. Idealy, she wouldn’t have worn a dress again on this adventure, but Bard’s clothes would be far too large for her as they even hung off of Dwalin and Thorin and she was, perhaps, half their size, and Bain’s were actually too small.

Poor Frodo, however, _did_ end up in something old of Bain’s, cut to fit him and belted at the waist to keep him from slipping right out of it. He didn’t particularly mind, dutifully dealing with Bella drying and dressing him before he curled up on Fili’s lap and went back to sleep.

Bella smiled at the pair of them while she brushed out her hair, “He seems to be handling all of this alright.”

“The humming helped.” Fili said, dragging his hand through the fauntling’s hair gently. “He was nearly inconsolable until you and Kee showed up, though.”

“I feel like you understood how he felt rather well.” Bella said, nodding to where a still very pale Kili was napping against the oldest prince’s other shoulder.

“Well…” Fili shrugged, though he was smiling. “Maybe.” His smile turned sly, “I have to say, the reminder of you and uncle’s pending nuptials certainly turned Frodo’s mood around.”

“You know what-” Bella started, though the words died on her tongue when Thorin reentered the room with Balin and Bard. “I’m going to get you all back for this.” She finished lamely.

“I await the attack eagerly.” He said very seriously, shooting her a wink.

Bella huffed, turning away from him and going back to the monumental task of getting her hair back under control. With the resident hair police (Kili) out for the count she may actually get away with throwing it in a bun and being done with it.

“Do you need some help, Miss…?” Bard’s eldest, Sigrid, asked, motioning to Bella’s hair.

“Bella.” She answered, “And thank you b-”

Thorin interrupted her for the second time in as many minutes, though this time he actually spoke to her instead of killing her train of thought with his very presence; “I will do your hair, Belladonna.” He grunted, narrowing his eyes at Sigrid until her face went pale.

“Thorin!” Bella scolded, finding her voice, “I’m terribly sorry, Sigrid. Dwarves are very touchy about their hair, I should have warned you.” She turned to the king, “And you! Apologize to the poor child for scaring her. That was so rude I cannot even begin.”

Thorin did not looked happy about it, but he did apologize and Sigrid smiled at him, bowing out to help Tilda and Bain with the food.

Bella kept scowling, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at Thorin until he deflated.

“Sorry.” He said again, and this time he seemed to mean it.

Bella hummed thoughtfully, returning to her hair. She faltered when her fingers found something cold and hard, wondering if perhaps one of the orcs had left a bit of their armor behind with them, or if it had come off of a barrel at some point.

What she pulled out of her hair, though, was Thorin’s bead.

“Oh.” She said, blinking at it almost dazedly. “I forgot this was in my hair.” She held it out to the king in her palm.

Thorin’s face fell for a reason Bella couldn’t even begin to guess at, “I said you did not need to gi-”

“I’m not trying to give it back.” Bella’s lips twitched upwards as she got to interrupt him, “I’m trying to ask you if you would rebraid my hair for me, you big oaf. Let a girl speak before you jump to conclusions, huh?”

The entire company stopped, their eyes locked on their king and burglar as Thorin plucked the bead from Bella’s palm and sat heavily on a wooden bench, sideways, motioning for her to come and sit in front of him.

She did, ignoring the staring and handing Thorin Tilda’s comb, settling on the bench and tucking her legs underneath her.

Balin was the first to regain sense, starting to chuckle loudly before he turned to Nori, Bifur, Gloin, and Dwalin with raised eyebrows and an extended hand.

Bella’s eyes narrowed at the old dwarf; he was going to tell her about whatever bet he had made later if he knew what was good for him.

Everyone eventually went back to whatever they had been doing before Bella discovered the bead; Thorin spent a good amount of time just brushing out Bella’s hair, starting at the bottom and working his way up and she was content to just let him. It felt really, really nice.

So nice, in fact, that she thought she was going to fall asleep sitting up if she wasn’t careful.

Bella blinked her eyes open, wondering when she’d closed them, catching Fili’s eye and scowling at the smirk on his face. She was going to get him back.

“Something the matter, Aunt Bella?” The prince asked, innocently.

She opened her mouth to tell him exactly where to stuff it but she didn’t get very far, her lungs choosing that moment to attempt to forcefully expel themselves through her face. By the time she’d stopped coughing her throat was sore, her face was red, and Thorin had wrapped his arms around her to keep her from toppling off the bench entirely.

The time for witty comebacks had well and truly passed.

“Are you alright?” Thorin asked, his voice not an inch away from her ear.

Bella nodded, patting his arm absently; she was being stared at again. “I swear to you the next dwarf I catch staring at me is going to get a sword to the kneecap. I coughed I didn’t grow another bloody head.”

“That was a really big cough…” Ori mumbled, and Dwalin, seated next to (and _around,_ Bella noted with nothing short of absolute glee) the scribe, nodded his agreement.

Oin looked like he was ready to stand and Bella pointed a finger at him, “Don’t. I’m okay; I caught a chill out in the water today but it’s nothing a good night of sleep won’t cure.” Or, so she hoped. Her head was aching more and more as the dwarves got louder and louder.

Bard had brought what supplies he could scrounge up, though it was not nearly enough, the the company were being quite vocal about their disappointment.

Well, the company minus Fili, Kili, and Thorin.

“You’re awfully quiet back there.” Bella said. The king hadn’t gone back to her hair, though he didn’t make a move to let her go or to move away from her.

“You’re not feeling well.” He mumbld back, “I do not wish to aggravate it, being as close as I am to your head.”

“You could always back off.” She pointed out.

“I don’t wish to do that either.” She could tell he was starting to smile, “They will calm soon enough and then we will figure something out as we have before. I dare to say that absolutely nothing on this journey has gone according to plan.”

“You can say that again.” Bella sighed, giving in and leaning fully against the king’s chest, watching Fili get grumpier and grumpier as the dwarves got louder and louder; she would bet money that if they woke Kili or Frodo they were going to have his battle axe up their asses before they could blink, “Trolls, orcs, goblins, more orcs,” she ticked off on her fingers, “eagles, spiders, elves, still more orcs…” Thorin himself counted on Bella’s personal list, but she  didn’t dare tell him that; not when he was pressed hard and warm and comfortable against her back.

“When you put it that way,” Thorin chuckled into her hair, “this is barely a hiccup.”

“You are in startlingly good spirits.” She noted.

“Like I said; barely a hiccup.” His arms tightened, “You’re warm enough?” He asked.

Bella laughed softly, though it still managed to tickle her throat and she had to turn her head to cough into her hand, though not nearly as badly as before, “Are you kidding?” She asked when it stopped, “You’re a furnace.”

“Enough!” Fili finally hissed and Bella looked over to see Frodo sitting up and blinking sleepily at the lot of them. Kili still slept against his brother’s shoulder, thankfully; Bella was seriously worried about that leg of his.

Bella snickered quietly to herself as Fili started to very quietly read the rest of the company the riot act, sending Frodo over to her and Thorin with a kiss on the forehead and a pat on the bum.

The little hobbit crawled onto Bella’s lap, smothering a yawn into her shoulder. “Sleepy.” He mumbled.

“I can see that.” Bella said, her heart fluttering when Thorin unwrapped his arms from around her just long enough for him to wrap them around Frodo as well. “Do you want to play the story game? See if you can fall asleep again?”

“Mmm. Yeah.” Frodo decided, wiggling around until he was comfortable. “Does Uncle Thorin know how to play?”

Bella wasn’t sure if Kili and Fili had told Frodo to play along or if her little nephew really thought she was going to marry the king under the mountain, but either way the princes were going to be smacked but good once she was feeling better, “I don’t think so, darling.”

“Story game?” Thorin asked, proving her right; she and Frodo had only played it a handful of times since arriving in Arda and she didn’t think Thorin had ever been around while they had..

Bofur had been, he’d become very good at the game, and Ori preferred to listen rather than tell but he enjoyed it as well.

“Teach.” Frodo pleaded, giving Bella his widest, saddest, most _bullshit_ pair of puppy eyes.

“I suppose,” Bella said with a teasing little smile, tilting her head back so she could almost see Thorin’s face while she spoke, “it’s very simple. Frodo points to something and you make up a story about it. Like, if he pointed to Tilda’s comb I would say that… it belonged to a water sprite long, long ago. And I would just go on until either he fell asleep or I ran out of things to say. If the latter happens then he points to something else and we begin again.”

“You just… invent a tale?”

Bella nodded, “Basically, though if you happen to know of a real story about whatever he points out you can use that. But most of the time he points to random things.”

Just to be a little shit, Bella was sure, Frodo pointed to Tilda’s comb first. Bella rolled her eyes, pulling her feet up on the bench and getting more comfortable. Instead of the water sprite story, Bella told a tale of a young hobbit who joined the army in the stead of her father (who gave her the comb), masquerading as a man to be allowed to do so, and while Frodo knew bloody well she was telling him the plot of _Mulan_ , Thorin -and then the rest of the company as they started to listen in to the tale that had their king so enraptured- did not and listened in absolute silence until she finished with the engagement of Primula and Drogo (Frodo smiled brightly at the use of his parent’s names in the place of Mulan and Shang).

“Did you…” Bofur asked, “Did you just make that up?”

Bella shook her head, “Goodness no, that’s a very popular children’s tale back home.” Not a lie; everyone loved _Mulan_. “Pick again, firefly.”

Frodo sat up, craning his neck this way and that to find something that interested him, then his face lit up and he pointed towards the back window. “What is that?”

Bella followed his gaze, her eyes landing on what could only be the wind lance that Bard’s grandfather had used to loosen a scale on Smaug’s hide. But she couldn’t tell Frodo that without giving herself away completely so she kept silent.

She was actually surprised that Frodo hadn’t recognized; or maybe he was just a better actor than she gave him credit for.

Thorin’s arms tightened around them both and his shoulders stiffened. Bella turned around as best she could, “You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.” She said, swallowing hard around the lump in her sore throat.

“That’s because he has.” Dwalin grunted.

“It’s the dwarvish windlance.” The king said after a moment, his gaze flicking down to Bella, so close that he could probably count the freckles across her nose if he chose. But neither of them moved. “The last time… the last time we saw it, everything was on fire. Everyone was dead.”

Bella finally looked away, back at the lance, “The day the dragon came.” She said softly. “The day Erebor was lost.”

“Aye.” Balin agreed. “The day all was lost.”

“Not all.” Bella’s hands found Thorin’s and squeezed. “Too much, but not all.”

Thorin squeezed back as Balin spoke again.

“Girion, the lord of Dale, gathered his bowmen, but what are simple arrows against a dragon’s hide?”

“Not much.” Frodo said.

“Not much.” Balin nodded, “Only a black arrow fired from a windlance can do anything at all against dragon armor.”

“And I’m guessing you don’t just have a storeroom of them lying around?” Bella asked, Frodo huffing out an aggravated, “Well they should!” In the way only a child could.

Thorin actually chuckled, “Agreed, little one; they should.”

Frodo beamed at the praise. “What happened next?” He asked.

Balin’s face grew more serious than Bella had ever seen it before and her stomach tied itself in all manner of knots though she knew well what happened next. “He missed.” 

“Had Girion’s aim been true that day,” Thorin said, “everything would have been different.”

Bella swallowed harshly at the sudden thought, the hope that maybe not quite everything would have been different.

“You tell the story as if you witnessed it first hand.” Bard commented, standing against the far wall, having listened to first Bella’s story and then Balin and Thorin’s silently. “And for the record, Girion did hit the beast. There is a missing scale under the left wing.”

“One more shot,” Bain cut in, “and Girion would have killed it.”

Dwalin laughed, though there was no humor in it or his face, “If only.”

Bella kept silent, but she knew that no, Bard and Bain were right. Girion did hit Smaug and there was one single wink spot on the dragon’s hide. She just had to figure out how to use it to her advantage.

They needed more weapons, a lot more, if they were going to face the dragon. And according to a very grumpy, distrusting Bard, the only place they were going to get the weapons was in the armoury, which they were definitely not supposed to be in, enemies of Thranduil or not.

Bella _told_ them that Kili should be left behind to rest, just for that field trip, that he was in no condition to be stealing anything and that someone had to watch Frodo anyway.

But Kili wouldn’t have it and Thorin insisted that if his nephew said he was fine that he was fine and Bella didn’t say anything only because she felt like utter shit and really, really did not feel like fighting with him; especially since as far as Bard knew they were about to be blissfully wed.

But dammit, she told him so and the look she gave the king while they both had swords to their throats after Kili’s leg gave out and he toppled down the stairs and got them _caught_ very clearly said, _“I am always right and you should always listen to me, always, for the sake of your kinglyness.”_

Though, that didn’t stop her from telling the master of Laketown to “Shut his whore mouth” when he insulted Thorin.

He was an infuriating ass, but at this point he was her infuriating ass.

There was a ripple of shock over the gathered townspeople and dwarves alike before Dwalin stepped forward, “Do you know who you insult? This is Thorin! Son of Thrain! Son of Thror! King under the mountain!” Bless Dwalin, he took the words right out of Bella's mouth and looked far more impressive saying them.

Thorin didn’t move from his spot next to Bella, actively glaring at any Man who came near her. She almost wanted to tell him to drop the ruse, but she didn’t. She may have liked it a little too much. “We are the dwarves of Erebor. And we have come to reclaim our home.” He said, standing tall and proud next to her, every much the king she and the others claimed him to be.

Things… happened quickly after that and Bella’s head was getting rather fuzzy with the absolute monster of a cold that was brewing so once it became clear that they weren’t getting locked up or murdered she spaced out a little, letting Thorin work with Balin for once. He was going to be king and she wasn’t going to be around to do it for him forever. He needed to learn to not insult at first sight.

Someone must have fetched Frodo from Tilda and Sigrid at some point because he was at their new lodgings (which were almost as luxurious as the master’s own), running around with Bofur and Nori chasing after him rather exasperatedly, though the smiles on their faces were large and genuine.

Bella was going to have to talk to Bard about possibly caring for Frodo while the reclaimed Erebor. The Man would have to keep her nephew on a very tight leash to keep him from following after them but he absolutely could not be near the dragon. The fact that he was in Laketown was more than enough, far too close for Bella’s comfort since if they failed the first place the dragon would attack was Laketown.

It’s why she had been so set on him staying in Rivendell; it was far, far away from the desolation of Smaug.  

“Belladonna?” Thorin appeared from nowhere and tilted her chin up with one hand, the other pressing cool and strong against her cheeks and then her forehead. That was weird; dwarf hands were never cool. “You’re burning up.” His eyebrows creased and he called for Oin while Bella blinked blearily up at him.

“Hey, we really need to talk to Bard about Frodo-sitting. And also get him to stop with the Uncle Thorin thing, because we don’t have to pretend to be engaged anymore so he really shouldn’t get used to that, no matter how fluttery you make my stomach.”

“I make your stomach flutter?” He asked before Oin pushed him out of the way to examine her eyes and her throat.

Bella tried to reply around Oin’s insistent poking and prodding but it came out so garbled that not even she knew what she was trying to say.

“I just caught a chill.” She said as Oin moved away, “I’ll be right as rain in two shakes-” she had to pause to sneeze and cough simultaneously which did absolutely nothing to help her case, “of a lamb’s tail.” She finished lamely, her throat raw and her nose starting to run.

“Thorin,” Oin ignored her completely, “get her up to bed. I’ll mix something up for the fever.”

The king nodded and wasted no time in simply picking Bella up, settling her against his chest and heading for the stairs. Bella didn’t protest; there were a lot of stairs and she really, really did not feel well.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone that you felt so poorly?” He asked.

Bella yawned, letting her eyes flutter closed, “I was alright until a little while ago. I had a bit of a headache and the cough was starting but the rest of it came on while you were talking to the master.”

“And yet you still insulted him.” Thorin commented dryly, “And you say I have no sense of diplomacy.”

“Only regarding elves.”

Thorin pushed a door, presumably the door to what would be Bella’s bedroom, open with his shoulder and a second later Bella was being laid on something very soft.

“Oh, no.” Her eyes fluttered open and she struggled to sit up, “I can’t… I’ll get it all dirty.”

“Belladonna-”

“There must be a bathroom here...” she looked around, noting a door off to the left. “There, right? I can just… clean up a little.”

“You are in no condition to try anything more strenuous than laying down.” Thorin said and Bella rolled her eyes.

“I’ve been playing “Mommy” to Frodo for the last year, Thorin. I’ve done worse than take a bath while sick. Now,” she held out a hand, “help me up and you can sit outside the door and brood until I’m done.”

….

He sat outside the door and brooded until she was done and when Bella emerged from the room, her hair once again wet but this time free of rapidly clumping saltwater, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him.

“Ridiculous man.” She said, her voice slightly less stuffy than it had been from the steam of the water she’d heated. “I was joking when I told you to sit by the door.”

Thorin looked up at her, his eyebrows raising, “I was not when I said you needed to rest.”

“Well, obviously I’m going to rest.” Bella stepped over his outstretched legs and crawled onto the monumentally large bed, nearly moaning aloud after sleeping on the ground or not sleeping at all for so long.

“Oin brought up the herbs for your fever.”

Bella’ nose wrinkled, “Oh, please don’t make me drink that muck.” She tugged the covers over her nose and mouth, until the only visible parts of her were her eyes and the long drape of her damp hair behind her.

“Oin says-”

“Oin doesn’t have taste buds.” She protested, “It’s just a cold, Thorin. I will be fine.”

“Your fever is high.” Thorin argued, stepping towards the bed almost hesitantly, “Too high for it to go unchecked.”

Bella huffed, pulling the blanket over her head. Thorin’s weight settled next to her very slowly, like he was waiting for her to tell him to back off. She didn’t, but she didn’t peek up from her blanket nest either.

“Belladonna,” he said, and Bella huffed out an annoyed breath, “ _please_.” That was not fair, he did not get to say please to her in that stupidly beseeching tone of his.

She pulled the covers down, nearly hissing at the honestly concerned expression on the king’s face. She was going to have to drink Oin’s sludge. She was going to have to because the alternative was Thorin continuing to look at her like _that_.

“Give me the cup.” She groaned, pushing herself up onto her elbows, “And appreciate what I am going through to put your mind at ease.”

“One of us needs to watch out for your well being, and it apparently will not be you.” Thorin reached over and plucked the large metal cup from the nightstand by the bed, holding it out to her.

“It’s a cold. It’s nothing.” Bella said for the seven thousandth time, accepting what felt like a container of Absolute Doom.

“And I suppose you wiggling out of the barrel and diving into the middle of an orc battle was also nothing? And climbing that damned tree in the Mirkwood? And taking on Azog?”

Bella chose to ignore him, instead downing the contents of the cup like it was a shot of particularly cheap vodka. It was actually worse than Two Dollar Shot Night vodka and that was a truly terrifying realization that made Bella decide she absolutely did not want to know what was actually in it.

She handed the cup back to Thorin, holding her breath to keep the worst of the acrid taste at bay, her face pinched in disgust. That was probably the worst thing that had ever been in her mouth.

“Belladonna?” Thorin sounded panicked, “Why aren’t you breathing?”

Bella motioned to her mouth and shook her head, determined to refrain from breathing as long as she could to guarantee the taste will have mellowed as much as possible before she had to deal with it.

Eventually she had to relent, sucking in a deep breath that made her eyes water and her lungs protest. She turned her head to cough violently into her elbow, her stomach fluttering traitorously as Thorin’s hand found her back, rubbing along her spine soothingly until her fit subsided.

“Are you-”

“I’m fine.” Bella cut him off, “Aside from my mouth tasting like something died in it. Oin didn’t think to bring up any water with him, did he?”

Thorin shook his head, “No. Would you like me to get you some?”

“I can do it.” Bella shook her head, moving to slide her legs down only for Thorin to use the hand on her back to grab hold of her shirt and pull until she was lying flat.

“I will be right back.” Thorin said firmly, standing, and Bella would have argued, she really would have, but Oin’s mixtures were nothing to trifle with and truthfully she was already feeling sleepy.

And the bed was awfully comfortable, if humongous,  now that she was clean….

She was asleep before the door even closed behind the king.

Whatever hellish cold she caught riding around in that godforsaken barrel felt like it lasted forever though it wasn’t even a full two days that she was laid up with it.

She slept the majority of that time, since Thorin kept appearing at her side with cup after cup of Oin’s disgusting tonic.

When at last she felt well enough to refuse the king when he entered her room (with her permission) of course, he didn’t even argue with her.

“You look better.” He said and Bella laughed, a little roughly.

“Of course I do.” She was wearing new clothes and had bathed again, getting rid of every trace of her sickness; she’d even braided her hair and found something to clean her teeth with. “I feel better.” She admitted.

“Everyone has been worried.” Thorin set the cup holding Oin’s - _unneeded_ \- tonic on the dresser. “They will be glad you are well again.”

“Everyone?” Bella asked, “Or you?” Because ignoring him wasn’t working, not that she’d been trying particularly hard, truth be told. Belladonna Baggins was rather good at quite a few things in life but ignoring her own heart was not one of them.

And, with the way Thorin Oakenshield was looking at her just then, she was quite glad for that.

“Me.” He finally said, so soft she almost didn’t hear him. “I was worried. And I am very glad you are well again.”

“Well, that makes two of us.” Bella smiled, though her heart ached dully in her chest with every absolutely perfect thing that came out of the king’s mouth.

She should tell him; she _had_ to tell him. But how was she supposed tell someone who looked at her like she was the greatest thing to ever happen to him that… that she was from another world? That she had thought him as no more than a dream for years and years? That she knew the exact moment he was going to die (or, actually, now that they had at least one friend inside Thranduil’ kingdom, his captain at that, maybe things would turn out different) that she had written the moment down and been quite pleased with it?

How did she tell him that one day, without warning, she and Frodo were going to disappear, like they had never existed, when the very thought filled her eyes with hot, burning tears.

She couldn’t.

So she didn’t.

Even as he moved in close to her, reaching out and smoothing his fingers over the swell of her cheek, his face softer than she’d ever seen it. He was so handsome in the morning sunlight streaming through the open window; it caught on the streaks of silver in his dark hair and sent his eyes glowing nearly white under his thick lashes.

Bella reached up and brushed some of that silver threaded hair off of his forehead, pressing her cheek into his hand and smiling gently up at him. “You are going to be the end of me, Thorin Oakenshield, and heaven help me but I don’t think I’ll mind.”

Thorin chuckled, low and deep in his chest and Bella felt it in her bones. “You are the beginning of me.”

Bella’s heart was beating so quickly that she was surprised it was still in her chest, “You can’t just _say_ things like that.” She told him.

“Why not?” He was so close to her, his hand spreading out to cup her face, warm even against the blush that was spreading down her neck and across her chest, “It’s the truth.”

“It makes me want to do something really stupid…” She couldn’t look away from his eyes and what she saw there.

“How stupid?” He was getting closer, his other arm wrapping around her back.

“Really, really stupid.” She breathed and then she was kissing him.

Or he was kissing her.

Someone was kissing someone.

And this time it wasn’t raining, and they weren’t fighting, and they were both expecting it. There were no goblins, no giants, no mountains to cross, and no orcs to run from.

There was just her and Thorin, with the sunshine streaming in and the breeze ruffling his hair even as her fingers sunk into it. She had lean up on her tiptoes to reach him, so small compared to his everything but she found she didn’t mind.

He was kissing her so well, searing hot kisses that had her breath coming in short gasps and her toes curling against the wood floors even as he tilted his head to the side and kissed her more thoroughly.

She felt like she was floating and the only thing keeping her tethered to the ground was him, one hand cupping her jaw and the other spread across her back, burning like fire even through the fabric of her borrowed dress.

The kisses slowed gradually until they were just standing there, their foreheads pressed together as they breathed together. Bella didn’t open her eyes, not even as Thorin pressed butterfly kisses to both of them, and then her nose. She giggled, but she kept her eyes closed.

The hand on her face went to join its mate on her back and she pressed herself even closer, silently thanking the years of ballet she’d taken as a child for her continued ability to stay perched on her toes for extended periods of time without trouble.

"Are you ever going to look at me?" Thorin asked, voice light with amusement.

It was her favorite tone of his, and the one that he used so rarely it almost didn't exist. "Maybe." She said, a delighted, disbelieving laugh bubbling in her throat. "I want to commit this to memory first."

Thorin hummed, ducking his head to press his nose against her hairline and inhaling deeply. "What, exactly, are you committing?"

"You. Still wanting me." She answered honestly, "Who knows, maybe after you're a king with a kingdom," or after she finally got up the guts to tell him about...everything, "you'll want a dwarrowdam or someone else more suitable."

Thorin was silent for a long moment, long enough that Bella did open her eyes.

The king's face was so, so serious and the second Bella's eyes settled on his he was kissing her again, harder, more desperate.

It ended as quickly as it began and left her breathless in its wake.

"Belladonna Baggins," He finally said, "I have never wanted anyone; dwarf, elf, man, hobbit, be they man _or_ woman, the way that I want you." His throat bobbed as he swallowed, “And I… I understand if you do not… I have treated you unfairly and you deserve far more than a kingdomless king-”

“Hey,” Bella’s fingers were still wrapped in his hair and she used the fact to her advantage, pulling sharply on the soft strands, “stop talking like that.”

“I have much to be sorry for.” Thorin suddenly wouldn't look at her, “Much to prove before I am worthy of your affections.”

The mood of the room turned somber and Bella really just wanted to pull him into the world’s longest, tightest hug. She knew of the skeletons in Thorin Oakenshield’s closet, of the shadows of his past and the curse of his family. She knew, but he didn’t know that she knew, and she would wait for him to tell her before she brought it up.

Instead, she tugged on his hair until he met her eyes again, “The woods are lovely,” she said, softly, “dark and deep. But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.”

Thorin’s expression softened, “I have miles to go before I sleep.” He agreed, “Did you write that?”

“I did not. Robert Frost wrote that. But I felt it fit rather nicely.” She smiled, leaning forward and pressing her forehead to his chest, letting herself just enjoy the way his arms tightened around her. “We should go down there.”

“Probably.” Thorin agreed and when Bella lifted her head to ask for another kiss -because now that it was apparently a thing she was definitely going to take advantage of it while she had the chance-, “We are celebrating today.”

“Celebrating what?” Bella asked, carefully disentangling herself from the king and straightening out her hair, “Not dying?”

“Basically.”

“Is there alcohol?” She asked.

Thorin’s nose wrinkled, “If you can call the piss the Men make alcohol.” His expression slipped into something nearly unbearably fond as Bella turned and she assumed that the bead she had managed to rebraid into her hair caught the light, “You still wear it?” He asked.

Bella lifted a hand, her fingers brushing over the cool metal in her hair, “Of course. You gave it to me, why wouldn’t I wear it?”

The king opened his mouth to respond but the door opening cut him off.

“Aunt Bella?” Frodo peeked his little head in, his curls flopping into his eyes, “I’m sorry.” He said.

“For what, darling?” She asked, pursing her lips. “Come in here. Did you break something?”

The fauntling stepped inside fully, shaking his head, “No. I told them...”

Bella’s heart nearly stopped. Her throat went dry as panic clouded her brain, “What?” She croaked.

No, he couldn’t have told them about her books and their home, not with all of them still downstairs- “It’s the twenty second.” Frodo said, and then when Bella didn’t react he added, “Of September.”

All of the air in Bella’s lungs expelled itself in one hue exhale of relief, “Oh.” She said.

“Oh?” Thorin looked between them, “What is the twenty second of September?”

Fili and Kili made their appearances then, Kili still unbearably pale and leaning heavily on a makeshift crutch but smiling nonetheless, “It’s their birthday.” The younger prince crowed.

“It’s their birthday and they _weren’t going to tell us_.” Fili added.

Bella shifted uncomfortably, “I wasn’t intentionally keeping it from you.” She said honestly, “I just wasn’t aware of the date.”

“Oh!” Frodo said, “I thought you weren’t telling anyone because you’re thirty now.”

“You’re only _thirty_?” Kili gasped, looking at Thorin with something very close to outright horror. “Uncle!”

“Hobbit’s don’t age the same way that dwarves do.” Thorin said back patiently, “Bella is an adult by the standards of her species so wipe that look off your face.”

“And why does it matter anyways?” Fili said, everything about him casual, “I mean, even though she wears your bead, and you carry around her flowers in your pocket, _and_ that is a truly impressive amount of beard burn on her cheeks...you’re not _together_.”

Bella’s beard-burned cheeks flushed and she ducked her head, ignoring all three dwarves to drop onto her knees and hold her arms out to her nephew. “Come here, you seven year old menace, and give me a hug.”

Frodo crashed into his aunt with a happy cry and Bella scooped him up, spinning in rapid, tight circles while he shrieked with glee.

“Birthday buddy!” She said as she finally came to a stop, the world tilting around her like she was still moving.

Frodo giggled, putting his hands on her cheeks and squeezing until she felt as if she resembled a fish. “Birthday buddy!” He cheered.

“Your birthdays are actually the _same day?_ ” Thorin asked.

Bella nodded, still smiling, “Yeah. I couldn’t believe it when Drogo told me.”

“It’s why I’m always going to be her favorite nephew so don’t even think about it.” Frodo warned the two princes still standing in the doorway.

“Hey, now,” Bella laughed, “I love all of you all equally.” She told Fili and Kili, forgetting for a moment that they weren’t technically her nephews.

“Wait, Frodo, Bella is our sister, so that makes you _our_ nephew.” Fili said and Bella absolutely lost it at the horrified expression that crossed the baby hobbit’s face.

It was the best birthday present she’d ever received, to tell the truth; Frodo wigging out of her arms and darting between Fili’s legs and down the stairs, the elder prince hot on his heels while Kili called encouragements to both sides and hobbled after them.

“So,” Bella said, turning back to Thorin, “how old am I by dwarf standards?”

The king laughed lowly, lips spreading in a slow, impossibly warm smile, “Let us just say that I am _very_ glad you are not a dwarf.”

When Prim had first met Drogo Bella had asked her what the appeal was; Drogo was her cousin and Prim her best friend in the entire world and the very idea of them together was absolutely baffling to her -because she was fifteen years old- and Prim had looked at Bella and asked her, very simply, if she had ever met someone who she thought could make flowers grow with their smile.

Bella hadn’t had any idea what Prim had been talking about.

She kind of did right then, with the way Thorin Oakenshield was smiling at her.

Bella hadn’t been lying when she said she had honestly forgotten that it was her and Frodo’s birthday; she liked birthdays, and she was thrilled that she could deal with her thirtieth absolutely free of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.

That woman was worse than Smaug could ever hope to be.

The “Hooray! We’re Not Dead!” party had quickly been changed into a “Hooray! We’re Not Dead AND Our Hobbits Made It To Another Birthday!” party and Frodo, in particular was having the time of his life. Especially because someone had invited Bard and his children and Frodo had taken particularly well with Sigrid.

It was absolutely adorable watching him pull her around and introduce her to every single one of the dwarves individually.

Bella stayed mostly out of the way, accepting birthday wishes happily but then promptly sending them off to go and spoil Frodo a little bit.

In a few day’s time they would all be going off to fight a dragon and they had a very good chance of not coming back if Bella didn’t think of something, and fast.

“You don’t look like you’re havin’ a very good time, lass.” Bofur settled next to her against the wall, “This is your party.”

“Nah,” she said, lolling her head to the side to smile gently at her friend, “my parties involve better beer and bright lights. And music.”

“Well,” Bofur said, “we can fix one of those problems.” He wiggled his eyebrows, “I bet one flutter of those pretty eyelashes of yours and Thorin will even bring out his harp.”

Bella laughed, “Are you encouraging me to seduce your king, Bofur?” She asked. Thorin had only broken out his harp a handful of times their whole journey, but every time had been nothing short of magical.

“Is it really seducin’ if he’s already snogged you halfway to Bree?”

Bella’s cheeks flushed, “Shut up!” She hissed, “Even Bifur has said something… Is it that obvious?”

“It’s pretty obvious.” Bofur clapped her on the shoulder, “Especially on account of you bein’ beardless. No one can tell when Nori and I get up to anythin’.”

“Well, the beards had to be good for something.” Bella teased, reaching up to tug teasingly on the left side of Bofur’s mustache. “I think I’ll take the beard burn over having to deal with even more hair, however.”

“You do spend an awful lot of time complaining about it.” He mused.

“Oh, yes. If it wouldn’t offend you lot so truly I would cut it to my chin in a heartbeat.” Bella had to quickly add on an, “But I won’t do it, of course!”

Bofur’s shoulders relaxed, “Good… Hair is very important to dwarves. A short beard is a sign of mourning or shame.”

Bella blinked slowly, “Oh.” She said, “Well, that does make sense…” Her eyes found Thorin, almost of their own accord; he was thoroughly engaged in a mock-sword battle with Frodo and Fili, with Kili (looking worse and worse by the hour) happily pelting the lot of them with what looked like peanut shells and calling out insults. “So, Thorin-”

“I know what you’re about to ask, lass,” The miner said, “and even if I could answer it I wouldn’t. That is his story to tell, in his own time.”

Bella nodded sagely, her lips twitching back up into a smile, “I know. He will tell me when he is ready.”

Bofur nodded back, tipping his ridiculous hat, “Aye. Now cheer up.  It’s your birthday. You’re at the ripe old age of… what? One sixty?”

The snort that ripped it’s way out of Bella’ throat was utterly undignified and completely involuntary, “I am thirty.”

“What?” He asked, and the horrified expression on his face was nearly identical to Kili’s. “That is-”

“Hobbit’s age differently. I’ve been an adult for… goodness, twelve years, now.” She paused, “Bofur, exactly how old is a thirty year old hobbit compared to, say, a Man?”

“A Man?” Bofur considered it for a moment, “Maybe Frodo’s age?”

“Huh.” Well that certainly explained a lot. “Maybe I should go over there and show him how not a seven year old I am.”

Bofur made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat, “Thank you for that image; you’re easy on the eyes but that is my _king_.”

“That doesn’t make him any less attractive, objectively speaking.” Bella’s eyebrows rose, “Is he not… pleasing by dwarven standards?”

“Oh, no. I’m sure there is no dwarf who has even seen an etchin’ of him that hasn’t had at least a passin’ thought about Thorin Oakenshield, but…” And he turned his gaze to stare fondly at Nori who was trying (and failing) to wiggle Ori away from Dori’s protective grip.

“I see.” Bella’s lips split into a grin, “Did you know you fancied him immediately or did it sneak up on you?”

“You first.”

She hummed, thinking about it for a moment. “I think that, for me, it was just a little niggling of attraction until we got to Rivendell.”

“And in Rivendell?”

“I asked him to dance.” She said simply, eyes slipping into staring at the king again as easy as breathing.

“Oh, is that all?” Bofur asked, amused and Bella laughed softly.

“That’s all.” She said, never moving her eyes as Thorin picked up Frodo in one arm and Fili in the other, the elder prince squawking in indignation.

“You’re lookin’ at him like he’s the sun.”

“And the moon, and the stars.” Bella added.

“You fell in love with him.” Bofur said, simply, like it was as easy as all that. “It happens to the best of us.”

“Well, it wasn’t supposed to happen to me. What is going to happen when he… when he realizes that a hobbit and a dwarf king aren’t at all compatible? Or when I have to go home, or-”

“Hey, hey.” Bofur was suddenly in front of her, both of his hands on her shoulders, “No need to work yourself into a tizzy over it. You’re just going to have to cross that bridge when you come to it, aye? For now, I can feel him glarin’ at me back so if you could kindly go over there and tell him that I mean no ill will towards your lovely...everythin’ I would much appreciate not gettin’ stabbed in me sleep.”

Bella took a deep breath, peering over the miner’s shoulder and pointedly rolling her eyes at Thorin’s outright staring. “ _Ridiculous man_.” She mumbled before turning back to Bofur as he stepped away from her, “You never told me about you and Nori.” She said.

“I can tell that tale any old time.” He waved her off, “Go call off your king, darlin’.”

Bella rolled her eyes again, “I’ll call him, alright, but it’ll be something he won’t like.” She told Bofur crossly before clearing the room in a few quick strides and standing before Thorin with raised eyebrows.

He smiled when she reached him and she forgot every annoyed thing she was going to say to him, “Hello.” He said.

“Hello.” She said, blinking up at his face a little dazedly.

“Are you having a pleasant night?” He asked her and Bella suddenly remembered that was supposed to be at least a little cranky with him.

“It would be more pleasant if a certain king would refrain from glaring at my friends.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’ll apologize to him later.” Thorin said offhandedly, his hand raising so he could brush his fingers over the bead in her hair reverently. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.” Bella’s shoulders relaxed completely, “Even if I am only a tot by your standards.” She clicked her tongue, “Bofur says thirty years for you is about seven for Frodo and I.”

“I told you I am very glad that you are not a dwarf, did I not?” He asked.

She laughed, throwing her head back and catching sight of Sigrid and Tilda taking up arms with Kili while Bain joined Frodo and Fili. “It seems they’re occupied for a good while.” She mumbled offhandedly.

“Hm?” Thorin followed her gaze. “They’ll be at this all night as long as they don’t run out of things to throw.” His expression slipped into a frown, “Fili is trying to keep his brother’s spirits up. That leg is.. it’s getting worse, no matter what Oin tries. There was something dark on that arrow.”

Bile rose in Bella’s throat; that arrow was meant for her. “He jumped in front of it.” She said, her eyes locked on Kili’s pale face. “It was… it was coming at me and I wasn’t paying attention and he _jumped in front of it_.”

Strong hands wrapped around her arms and then she was being gently lead from the room, away from the celebration and into the much quieter stairwell. “It is not your fault.”

“But it is, if he hadn’t have tried to protect me-”

“Then you would have gotten hit with it and your body is not meant to fight off poisons, Belladonna. It would have killed you by now.” Thorin smoothed her hair back off her forehead, fingers gentle on her skin as she swallowed back the urge to be sick.

“Every time I try to help I just mess it all up.” She whispered; to avoid the stone giants she’d gotten them kidnapped by Goblins which cost them time and led to them all nearly getting killed by orcs; and then by encouraging them to be polite to Thranduil she’d gotten Kili shot with a poisoned arrow.

“You do not mess anything up.” He told her sternly, “You have saved us more times than you can even begin to understand, Belladonna Baggins. Myself and my nephews more than anyone. Kili will be fine. I have… I have sent a raven.”

“A raven?” Bella asked.

“To the… redheaded elf he is so taken with. Frodo came to me and told me that she is an accomplished healer a well as a warrior and that she and Kili… _bonded_.” He said the word like it tasted foul but Bella’s heart soared.

The Thorin Oakenshield she had started the quest with would have never asked an elf for help, not even for the life of his sister’s son.

“That is… excellent.” She breathed, inserting herself under his arm and pressing her forehead to his chest, content to just listen to him breathe for a few long moments as she remembered how to do the same.

She really did love those boys; she loved every single member of the company dearly, but none more so than the sons of Durin.

“You care for my nephews greatly.” Thorin said, like he’d been reading her mind.

“I do.” She confirmed, tilting her head up to see his face,  “Like they were mine.” She watched his eyes carefully, to see if she’d crossed some kind of line, but they only softened into oceans of fond, fond blue before he tilted his head to kiss her.

“I care for Frodo as well.” He said, like she didn’t already know that.

“He loves you.” She said, lips twitching up into a smile, “I’m afraid we’re never going to get him out of calling you ‘Uncle Thorin’ so you had better just accept it.”

“That is quite the hardship.” The king said very seriously and Bella started to giggle.

A weight had been lifted off her shoulders now that she knew that Kili would be fine; yes she was still _absolutely terrified_ that he’d been poisoned, and heartbroken because he’d taken that arrow for her, but Tauriel was coming.

Tauriel would save him.

She had to believe that or she would go absolutely crazy.

“Do you wish to return to your party?” Thorin asked.

“Not particularly.” She answered honestly, “Everyone has wished me a happy birthday and, though I love them all very dearly, they are a very rowdy bunch and-”

“And you are just a little bit overwhelmed.” He finished for her and Bella sighed almost dreamily; he understood. “Dís gets like this.” He said, softly, “And so do I. Frerin was always the one our father would send to parties and the like; he thrived in the social aspect of ruling. Dís and I…”

“Would rather chew off your own arm than sit through another pompous party with a bunch of tree shaggers?” Bella tried.

“Would rather chew off _each others_ arm.” Thorin corrected.

Bella laughed, loudly, pressing her face into his too large tunic to muffle the sound. It didn’t smell right; too much like salt air and dark closet, but under it she could find hints of Thorin; the oil he used in his hair, the perpetual scent of the forest that clung to him, even right after they bathed.

“Do you wish to be alone?” He asked, finally as Bella’s giggles subsided.

“Not particularly.” She said.

Bella knew she was pretty; she owned a mirror and two pairs of functioning eyes and she didn’t have any patience for those people who were obviously pretty but pretended they didn’t know it because it was apparently more attractive to have low self-esteem. Bella was _pretty_. She was short and she was curvy with maybe a little too much padding around her hips and tummy according to Victoria’s Secret models, but she was pretty and Thorin looked at her like he agreed wholeheartedly.

The light in the room was dim but Bella was still glad that she had managed to wash the (blessedly matching) underthings she had been wearing when she’d woken up because Arda’s underthings were nowhere near as cute as the pale pink satin and black lace ensemble she’d picked up at Frederick's on a whim way back when.

And Thorin’s mouth _dropped_ along with her dress.

“What are you _wearing_?” He asked, which was a rather dumb question since he had definitely seen her in her bra directly after the trolls.

“Do you like it?” She asked instead of answering, and then she gave a little twirl, reveling in the loud hiss of his breath when it was revealed that her underwear were, in fact, thong panties. She paused in her rotation, wiggling her ass cheekily. “All the rage back in Hobbito- _Oh_!” The air left her as Thorin grabbed her by the hips and pulled her back into his chest. “Hello.” She breathed. “Is that Orcrist in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

Thorin didn’t answer. Instead, he pushed her hair, hanging loosely around her shoulders, over her left shoulder and started pressing lingering kisses down the right side her neck.

Bella sighed and tilted her head more, reaching behind her to grasp loosely at his shirt as liquid desire pooled hot and low in her stomach. It had been a _while_ since she’d been with anyone but herself and Emily, her favorite vibrator.

Her knees felt like jelly and she was sure that, had Thorin not been holding her firmly in place, she would have hit the ground when he paused to nibble roughly on the point where her neck and shoulder met. As it was, she stayed upright by the sheer force of his will but she did let out an embarrassingly loud moan that she tried to promptly stifle by clamping her teeth down on her lower lip and holding her breath.

“It’s nothing they haven’t heard before, Belladonna, even if it wasn’t louder than an orc pack down there.” He moved up to her ear, his lips brushing the delicate point as he spoke and Bella shuddered harshly against him.

Okay, so hobbit ears? _Hella sensitive_.

“Frodo has never heard it before, I assure you.” She whispered, not bothering to open her eyes as his fingers started to drag up and down her sides in a way that was almost ticklish, “I haven’t,” she broke off to sigh at the press of his mouth behind her ear, “been with anyone since he came to live with me.”

“That was over a year ago.” Thorin noted, “That’s a long time.”

“It _really_ is.” She said, biting back another moan as his fingers ghosted over her through the front of her underwear, “It won’t take much at all for me to - _Thorin_!” His other hand pulled the right cup of bra down, gentle fingers quickly finding her nipple and pinching.

What had she been saying?

“Thorin!” She hissed again as he started to rub her through her panties. The dwarf knew what he was doing and Bella clamped her hand down on his wrist, though she made no move to actually push him away. As a matter of fact her hips were making little, involuntary movements into the short circular motions his fingers were making.

“Do you want me to stop?” He asked, rolling her nipple between his fingers and chuckling lowly when all Bella could do was shake her head rapidly and make a noise somewhere between a moan and whine and push harder into his hands. “I’ll take that as a no.” He said, before latching his mouth to the same spot he’d been nibbling on and _sucking_.

Bella came undone then, sucking in a sharp, keening breath as every muscle in her body tensed and then released suddenly, the entire world narrowing to his hands on her and his breath in her ear as she tried to keep quiet and not car her nephew for life even as the force of her orgasm left her shaking and her panties literally dripping into the small puddle already gathered on the floor.

Thorin hissed in her ear, “You can-”

“Nearly every time.” She sighed, trying to focus her vision as she trembled against his chest, “The novelty wears off when you’re laying in the wet spot, trust me.”

The king turned her around, his hands sliding around her back and slipping under the back strap of her thong, “Do it again.” He said, grinning wickedly at her as his fingers squeezed at her ass.

Bella laughed, breathlessly, giddy from the first of what was more than likely going to be the first of many orgasms, and said, “Make me.”

Thorin Oakenshield, son of Thrain, son of Thror, rightful king to the throne of Erebor, looked at Bella’s bra like she looked at thermonuclear astrophysics and she thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life, giggling almost hysterically as she reached back with one hand and unhooked it for him.

He looked like he wa about to say something very cross about her choice of undergarments but then the aforementioned undergarment was gone and her breasts were bare and Thorin’s mouth was _closed_.

Bella fidgeted, a little self conscious now that the underwire wasn’t there to push her boobs up to her ears; she knew she looked good, but a lot of the men she’d been with over the years had been completely ignorant on the effect that gravity had on large breasts.

Thorin, however, just smiled at her and reeled her in close again, planting a firm kiss on her lips, “You’re beautiful.”

She grinned, tugging impatiently on his shirt, “I’d return the compliment but you’re still fully dressed.” Which was a _crime_.

Thorin stripped for her and Bella just made herself comfortable on the bed and watched, thoroughly enjoying the way his muscles rippled as he rid himself of first his shirt and then his boots and trousers.

He was beautiful and he was _hers_ , at least for the time being.

Bella propped herself up on one elbow, raking her eyes over him appreciatively and whistling lowly, “I see Orcrist isn’t the only big sword around here.” She followed her horrible line with an exaggerated wink, grinning when Thorin just laughed and crawled up the bed, pinning her down under his weight and kissing her soundly, one large hand cupping her neck while he held himself up with the other arm.

She hooked her leg around his hips, moaning into his mouth when he ground down against her obligingly. He grunted, displeased by the fact that her panties were still intact, soaked through as they were, and started to kiss his way down her chest, pausing to nip at her breasts.

Giggles bubbled up in Bella’s chest and turned into soft sighs as he continued down her stomach and sucked a love bite into her left hip, his finger curling into the sides of her thong and pulling it down a he nuzzled and kissed at the soft curves of her hipbones.

“You’re so soft,” he mumbled, peeking up at her through the dark smudge of his eyelashes, “everywhere.”

Her legs were soft and smooth, having acquired a straight razor from one of the women in town (which was _nice_ after not having been able to shave her legs since forgetting the one she’d gotten in Rivendell in Mirkwood) and she wasn’t sure how Thorin felt about that, being a dwarf, but _she_ was certainly pleased.

“I can’t tell if you’re calling me chubby or referencing the fact that I shaved my legs and lady bits.” Bella sat up, partially, raising her eyebrows at him even as he dragged his hand back up her legs, spreading them as he went.

“I’ve never been with a woman who shaved anything, before.” He admitted, ducking his head and pressing a sucking kiss to the inside of her thigh that had Bella’s eyes fluttering closed, “But I’m not saying that I _mind_.”

The first touch of Thorin’s mouth on her had Bella flopping back down with a soft cry, her hips bucking up in surprise. His hands spread, hot and heavy, across her hips to hold her down as he lapped and sucked at her. Broad shoulders pushed Bella’s thighs open even wider as she gasped and moaned and curled her fingers into the blankets, holding on for dear life.

He brought her to the edge and over it again, and again, and _again_ , until everything around them was soaking wet and she was frantically pushing at his shoulders, swearing loudly and oversensitive to the point where she thought she was going to lose her mind or start crying if he kept it up.

She knocked over the coat rack with her flailing and couldn’t even find it in herself to be embarrassed as Thorin sat up on his knees, smiling as smugly as the cat that ate the canary.

Well, he certainly ate something.

“You weren’t kidding about _every_ time.” He said, his smugness only growing and Bella huffed, weakly kicking at his side.

“Shut up.” She mumbled, “As soon as I catch my breath it is _my_ turn.”

Thorin grunted, settling between her thighs again and leaning in to kiss her, crowding her back against the pillow with the sheer mass of him. “Later.” He told her, grabbing hold of her thigh and hitching her leg around her hip to give himself a better angle to press against her. “Unless it’s too soon…?”

Bella shook her head and tugged him back down by one of his braids, looping her arms around his back and raking her nails across his skin, just because she could, and dragging a low groan out of him as his hips ground against hers, seemingly of their own accord. “Not too soon.” She said, “Though I will get my mouth on you, yet, Thorin Oakenshield.”

He groaned again, ducking his head to press his face into her neck, “You do awful things to my self control, Belladonna Baggins.”

“That’s the idea.” She said, wiggling back against him, “Now come on, dwarf king, show me what you’re made of.”

“ _Hobbits_.” Thorin hissed, but then he was shifting and oh.

She was so wet, so ridiculously wet that even with as large as he was -and he was hung like the king he was, okay, and that was all she was going to say on the matter- they had no problems, just the usual stretch of being filled for the first time that had Bella’s eyes rolling back in her head and her toes curling as she bit back the multitude of high pitched, rather embarrassing noises threatening to tumble from her mouth.

Thorin was completely still for a few long moments, breathing into her neck, his shoulders trembling with the effort needed to not just start pistoning into her, and Bella started to wiggle against him impatiently, “Thorin!” She whined.

“Shhhh.” He whispered and then he was moving; rocking against her in that slow, deliberate way that told her that he knew exactly what he was doing to her.

Bella clenched her teeth and brought her other leg up, hooking her ankles together in the small of his back and turning her head to mouth at his shoulder. She started giving it back to him, using her leg around him to pull him in faster, harder, exactly how she wanted it while she scraped her nails across his shoulders and down his furred chest, settling on his stomach and spreading wide, enjoying the way his muscles tensed and flexed under her fingers,

She was going to come again, though he hadn’t even gone near her clit while he’d been fucking her and that was normally got her; it was what? one in four women who could get off with penetration alone? And she was not normally one of them.

“Thorin!” She hissed, “Shit, Thorin, fuck-!”

Thorin chuckled against her skin as she arched against him, sliding his top half down her without ever altering the rhythm of his hips (because he was apparently _magic_ ) to take nipple in his mouth, one of his hands coming up to pluck at the other in time with his hips and Bella had to bring a hand up to cover her mouth as she _screamed_ , the bed getting even wetter beneath her and cementing the idea that after they were done they were moving to his room.

The king groaned when she tightened around him, but he didn’t stop. In fact he sped up, till tweaking her nipple in one hand while the other one gripped so tightly at her hip that she was sure she would bruise -not that she cared.

She grabbed at his arms, his shoulders, his hair, whatever she could reach as he pushed her through one orgasm  and hurtling towards another and what even number was that? Five? Six? She had actually lost count and if he was trying to make up for lost time while on their journey he was definitely succeeding.

Thorin ground out something that sounded like her name, and Bella just whined in return as the hand on her breast moved down, down, down until he pressing her thumb to her clit and she lost it again, this time bringing him with her.

They fell together, after, Thorin just barely managing to roll off to the side and not crush her under his weight. She rolled with him, out of the soaking wet spot and onto his chest, breathing like she’d just run a mile while her hair stuck to her back in a way that was definitely not comfortable but also not worth the energy it would take to correct it.

“Well,” she breathed, blinking dazedly up at him, “you showed me what you’re made of. Gotta say, I have no complaints.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look we all know that Bilbo and Thorin fucked in Laketown  
> It's not a SHOCK
> 
> What is a shock is that Mary wrote smut bc that never happens but HEY
> 
> Title of the chapter, obviously, from the Robert Frost poem that Bella quoted <3 
> 
> As always, find me on Tumblr - [HERE](http://stilesinerebor.tumblr.com/)


	6. You Come Back To What You Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bella is a badass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fact that you guys like this so much is INSANE to me and Ily all v much <3
> 
> That being said
> 
> I've managed to keep up a fairly regular 4-5 day update schedule (unbelievably enough) BUT butbutbut, I have family coming down for the summer so that may... change. Hopefully it doesn't (I have through chapter eight completed rn so you're good for at least the next two chapters) but fair warning.

Kili got worse by the hour until it reached the point where he couldn’t sit up without assistance. He couldn’t eat anything, he could barely keep water down, and his fever had reached truly astronomical levels.

Nothing Oin did worked, and the more time that passed where Tauriel didn’t arrive the more antsy the entire company became.

Bella wouldn’t leave him, letting him lay his head on her lap while she brushed his hair off of his face and pressed cool clothes to his skin, desperate to keep his fever as low as she could get it.

There was discussion of just taking the leg, but at this point Bella shot them down. The poison had spread far past his leg.

“Are you sure the raven reached her?” She asked Thorin for what had to be the thirteenth time that hour. “Absolutely sure, Thorin?”

“ _Yes_.” Thorin sighed, pacing in front of where Bella sat with his nephews. They had cleared the room, more to keep Frodo away than anything else. The only people allowed in the room were Thorin, Fili, Bella, and, of course, Oin. “She cannot be far now.”

Bella was mildly impressed under her immense worry; there was no shit-talking from the king, of any sort. “You have a lot of faith in her, considering she’s an elf.”

“I do not trust her.” Thorin grunted, “But you do. And so does Kili. That has to be enough. A good king listens to the people around him.”

“A good king does indeed.” Bella nodded in agreement, bending her head to press a kiss to Kili’s  burning forehead. “He’s just getting hotter.” She swore, quietly.

Kili, half delirious from fever, pain, and whatever Oin had been forcing into him, chuckled lowly and peeked one eye open. “Not possible.” He rasped, “I’m already the most attractive one here.” His laugh only grew at Fili and Thorin’s noises of amused protest.

“Not hard to be with this unsightly lot.” She said softly, lips twitching upwards slightly when Thorin turned his mock offended stare upon her,  “How’re you feeling?”

The princeling groaned, “Bad.” He said simply.

Bella hummed sympathetically, and smoothed her fingers down his cheek. “You’ll be okay.” She promised him. “Tauriel will patch you up. You’ll be right as rain.”

He didn’t answer her, just smiled blearily and tucked his face into her stomach. “Fee?” He asked, lifting a hand from his blankets, relaxing when his brother took it.

“Uncle is here too.” The elder prince said. “Get some more rest, we’ll all be here when you wake up.”

“Mmmm.” Kili grunted, “Sing to me.” He said.

“Someone’s bossy today.” Bella teased, though she did as he asked; something slow and sweet, by Taylor Swift.

Kili didn’t get to hear the end of the song, all the tension draining from his shoulders as he fell asleep before the second verse.

Bella went to stop but Fili made a distressed noise in the back of his throat, leaning bent over the bed that Kili and Bella were seated on and pressing his forehead to his and his brother’s joined hands, and she finished the song.

Fili was asleep as well by the end of it and Bella relaxed against the pillow propped up behind her. Her back ached a little, but it was in no way unpleasant. It was the good kind of ache. The kind that came from resolving _months_ worth of sexual tension and feelings.

“Hobbits never run out of songs, do they?” Thorin asked, after a moment.

There was a deep purple love bite just under her jaw and even as worried as she was about Kili she couldn’t help but smile whenever she saw it, “I very much doubt it.” Not that any hobbit had ever heard any of the song’s Bella had been singing. “How’re you holding up?”

“I wish your elf would hurry.” He answered, raking a hand through his long hair.

He looked nearly as poorly as Kili; they’d woken up that morning tangled up in Bella’s bed, still bare as the day they were born, and had promptly been thrown off the deep end of familial catastrophes. The change from the bright eyed man who had kissed her good morning a few hours prior was _striking._

“I do as well.” She sighed, patting the empty spot on the bed beside her. “Come sit down, you look one good breeze away from toppling over.” Neither of them had gotten much sleep the night before, though Bella would not wish to take any of it back.

“I am too restless to sit.” He said, “I do not know how you are doing it.”

“Fair bit of practice, I’m afraid.” She’d spent a good amount of time in hospital waiting rooms; after her father’s car accident, and then again when the cancer had been in the process of slowly but surely taking her mother. “They wouldn’t declare Drogo and Prim dead for almost a week, though we all knew that they were.” She’d hoped, God had she hoped, but she knew. “My father died in an accident and my mother from sickness.” She swallowed against the lump in her throat, “After a while you get good at waiting.”

Thorin was quiet for a long moment and then he was crossing the room in a few long strides and sinking next to her, Kili and Fili both grunting in displeasure before settling again. His arm went around Bella’s shoulders and she let herself lean against him, sighing when he pressed a kiss to her hair. “Frerin was only forty eight when he was killed. And there was no waiting; I was there.” He said, softly, “He shouldn’t have even been in battle, he was too young. But he insisted.”

Bella tilted her head up, pressing a kiss to the sharp line of Thorin’s jaw and settling down to wait. He’d never spoken of Frerin that she’d heard; not to the boys, not to Dwalin or Balin, not even to himself or in passing.

“I told _adad_ -” his voice broke, “I told my father that I would protect him, that I would watch him. Keep him safe but I…  failed. I failed and he died.” The breath he took caught in his throat and he shuddered, “He was a _child._ ”

“It is not your fault.” She said, “He made his choice and he knew he had a good chance of dying. But he felt that the chance was worth it if he could contribute to the reclamation of Moria. He… at the end he was probably just glad that you were there.” She paused and considering not saying it, but in the end she added on, “I would be.”

Three words she had probably said every single day of her life since learning to speak, and they were the ones that broke Thorin Oakenshield. All of his breath left him in one huge gust and the arm around Bella’s shoulders tightened until she was plastered against him, closer than a second skin.

“ _No_.” He whispered fiercely. “Never. Promise me, Bella, you will _never_ -”

“I will never what?” Bella asked, “Die? That’s not exactly a thing I can promise you.” He didn’t answer, and Bella realized that actually possible or not it was something that he needed to hear, “But even so,” she continued, “I promise you that I will not die.” She stayed completely still, though her heart was beating like a hummingbird’s wings in her chest and she wanted nothing more than to run far, far away from Thorin Oakenshield and how much she felt for him in such a short amount of time. They had been on the road for...what? Eight months? Nine? She’d lost track.

Thorin just held her closer, breathing raggedly into her hair. They stayed like that for a few long moments, the boy’s sprawled across her sleeping and Thorin beside her apparently trying to get himself together while she leaned against him in a position that was vaguely uncomfortable until it turned _very_ uncomfortable and she had to sit up, hissing as the already sore muscles in her back pulled.

“Sorry.” She said, “But that position was,” she was going say ‘killer’ but quickly thought better of it, “exceedingly uncomfortable.”

It didn’t seem to bother Thorin any, he just adjusted with her and curled his fingers under the short sleeve of the shirt she had scrounged up (with _pants_ , thankfully), his thumb brushing over the skin of her upper arm rhythmically.

“You should tell me about him.” She said, “About all of them.”

“Hm?”

“Frerin and your parents and your grandparents… anyone you want to talk about.”

“Will you tell me about Drogo and Prim in return?” He asked.

“My mother and father too, if you like.” Bella agreed, easily.

All was silent for a few, long moments, before Thorin spoke, “Frerin looked like Fili.” He said, slowly, “He was the day to our night; Dís and I look like my father, and Kili like Dís, but sometimes, especially when he was younger, I would look at Fili and it was like looking at a ghost. They got the coloring from my mother…”

“What was her name?” She urged.

“Frís.” Thorin cleared his throat as his voice cracked, “She was… beautiful. Hair like sunshine, eyes bluer than the sky.”

“You have her eyes.” Bella cut in, lips curling into a smile at the king’s reddening cheeks.

“She taught me how to pay the harp. She _made_ my harp.” He looked towards the corner where the little instrument sat, always somehow saved from whatever calamity befell their packs. “She… she was killed when Smaug attacked. As was my grandmother.”

“If it’s another ‘ís’ name you’re going to have to start writing these down.” She teased him, her smile only widening when he pressed a light kiss to her temple.

“Hrera.” Thorin said. “Her name was Hrera. You remind me of her, actually. She was always very opinionated; one of my earliest memories was of her giving my grandfather an earful about something or another.” He chuckled, “The woman had a pair of _lungs_.”

Bella laughed then, “We would have gotten along just fine, then. We would have had tea together and complained about our ridiculous pet Durins. Fili and Kili’s father could have joined us.”

“His name was Vili… he had Kili’s smile and Dís loved him so fiercely it was almost unreal.” He swallowed harshly.

“Did he…?” She asked, though she knew that he had.

“Azanulbizar.” Thorin confirmed, “With Frerin and Fundin.”

“Going by the dwarvish propensity for rhyming names… Balin and Dwalin’s... brother?”

“Father.” Thorin corrected.

“Either way you’re going to need to go away with that name thing when you have children, Thorin Oakenshield. What would you call them? Borin? Horin? Sorin?” She wrinkled her nose in the way that had earned her the nickname of Bunny from Beorn.

She knew that was a can of worms, talking about children with the man you were definitely, at this point, seeing, and she really should have seen it coming but her stomach till swooped not completely unpleasantly when Thorin said  “Stella? Ella? Frella?”

“Frella?” She managed to ask, “And no those won’t work at all; women in my family name girls after _plants_.”

“Your mother named you after herself.” Thorin pointed out.

“Yes, well, men name children after themselves all the time so why couldn't she?” Bella shrugged, “Personally, I’ve always been fond of the name ‘Melody’.”

“That’s not a plant.”

Bella almost said that she wasn’t a hobbit, but she held it back, “I’m a rule breaker.” She said instead, and then she paused, chewing on her bottom lip. “Frerin is a lovely name, though.” She said cautiously.

She couldn’t believe she was curled in bed with two sleeping princes (one of whom was gravely injured) discussing baby names with the king she was more-than-probably more-than-a-little in love with. But it kept them distracted enough that Bella wasn’t panicking over Kili’s injury and waking him and his brother from their much needed rest and Thorin wasn’t pacing a groove in the floor.

“It is.” Thorin agreed, his voice a little choked.

Bella didn’t actually want kids, it had never been on her radar, especially since becoming Frodo’s guardian, the idea of having more than him just wasn’t appealing to her. But she wasn’t sure that was ever going to be an actual issue; she had no idea how long she would remain in Arda, or if any of them would even survive this last leg of the adventure.

And even if they _did_ Bella still had to somehow find a way to break Thorin from his goldsickness before he went to war with the elves and men.

And then there was the _orcs_.

The thump on the roof caught Bella’s attention; it wasn’t a hard thump, barely loud enough to register. “What was that?” She asked, reaching out a hand to where Sting was lying next to her.

Before Thorin could answer a crash sounded from downstairs, followed by the very distinct sound of Sigrid and Tilda shrieking in alarm.

Thorin was on his feet in an instant, rousing Fili and ordering Bella to stay with Kili before they both bolted out the door.

Kili stirred, blinking open his eyes, “Bella?” He asked.

“I’m right here.” She said, keeping her eyes locked on the window as she carefully moved the youngest prince’s head onto the bed and got to her feet, her fingers curled securely around the hilt of her sword. “Go back to sleep, _nadad_ , I’ll take care of this.”

The glass from the window breaking sliced into Bella’s skin like a rain of sharp, clear bullets and she raised her arms to shield her eyes, looking up against just in time to duck out of the way to avoid an orc’s axe.

Bella swung out with Sting, catching the orc’s bicep and having to drop to the ground and roll as it roared in anger and swung around again, the blade skimming an centimeter above Bella’s head.

From the new angle she was able to jam her sword up and into its chest and had to scramble quickly out of the way as it dropped like a stone. She yanked Sting from the corpse and backed up to the bed, standing in front of Kili with a growing sense of dread as more orcs clambered through the  window; first two, and then three...

She opened her mouth to yell, to get Thorin or someone _up there_ because one orc she could handle but not _five_.  And they knew it. They paused, gazing at the lone hobbit woman standing in front of the unconscious injured prince and _laughed_ , twirling their weapons in their hands almost idly.

That’s when the first arrow caught the orc closest to the window in the back of the head. Its ugly, marred face contorted even further in its surprise as it fell. The other four turned to the window, roaring in outrage, and Bella took the opportunity to lunge forward, shoving her sword up and through the back of the neck of the orc nearest her. The angle wasn’t great, as she was very short and the orc was very tall so her arms were fully extended over her head, but as it turned out there didn’t need to be a lot of _force_ behind an elvish sword and “sticking them with the pointy end” seemed to work just fine.

Two down, and then three as another arrow came singing into the room, making contact with the ear of another orc as it turned to swing it’s hammer at Bella’s face.

She let go of Sting and danced out of the way, grabbing up a lantern and flinging it out blindly, the glass breaking and kerosene lighting as it spread over the second to last orc’s skin. It yelled out in pain, stumbling past Bella and crashing through the door and down the stairs.

As it reached the bottom she heard someone shout for her and then there was the obnoxiously loud sound of dwarven boots pounding up the stairs but Bella paid it no mind; the last dwarf was standing between Bella and her sword, at the wrong angle for the elf perched outside the window to hit it with an arrow.

And it was _pissed_. It charged for her and Bella waited until the last possible second to duck out of the way, the orcs axe getting caught in the wall that had been behind her. She crossed the room as quickly as she was able, leaping over the bodies of the dead orcs, reaching out for her sword.

The orc got itself free and closed the space between them between one blink and the next, closing its fingers around Bella’s arm and hauling her back just as Dwalin and Gloin made it up to her.

Bella cried out, her shoulder jerking painfully (the _same. bloody. shoulder_.) as the orc lifted her off the ground entirely, hissing into her face a split second before Tauriel’s thin knife plunged into the side of it’s neck, the redheaded elf perched on the windowsill and looking furious.

The orc’s grip went slack and Bella dropped to the ground, rubbing at the already forming bruises grumpily. The chaos downstairs had apparently ceased and Thorin and Bofur were standing next to Dwalin and Gloin, all four of them taking in the scene before them with varying degrees of shock.

“Well, don’t just stand there.” Bella snapped, “Get these smelly bastards out of here.”

Tauriel extended a hand down to Bella and she took it gratefully, shaking bits of broken glass from her clothes and hair as Bofur, Dwalin and Gloin stepped forward and started to haul the corpses up and out through the window.

Thorin was still standing like a lump in the doorway and Bella was about seven seconds away from stomping over there and slapping some sense back into him.

“Looks like you got one, Bell.” Bofur commented as he tugged Sting free from the neck of the orc she had left it in.

“One?” Tauriel asked with barely concealed amusement, “Your halfling dispatched _three_ orcs with no more than bruises and a few scrapes to show for it. Most impressive.”

Bella smiled a little shyly as every dwarf in the room looked at her in awe. “It wasn’t as heroic as you’re imagining.” She told them, “It was a lot of me just waving my sword around and hoping that I hit-” She broke off as Thorin suddenly appeared in front of her, having crossed the room in two strides. “Thorin!” She gasped as the king grabbed hold of her face and tilted her head back so it caught the light of the one remaining lamp in the room.

“You are hurt.” He said, and before he said it she hadn’t been aware of the sharp sting in her cheek.

“Oh…” She said, raising a hand, “It must have happened when the window shattered. It’ll be fine.” She assured him. “Are you alright?”

“Am I…” He shook his head, “You take on three orcs on your own and you ask if _I’m_ okay?”

“I wasn’t alone.” Bella pointed out, “Our healer elf has arrived. So how about you stop staring at me like I’ve grown another head and start asking her what she needs you to do to save your nephew’s life?”

 

Bella didn’t stay in the room with Kili, she took Frodo from Fili and sent the other prince in to assist the elven captain, choosing instead to take Frodo outside to count the stars (and to flee the sound of Kili’s anguished screams, which she really did not want to hear, ever).

“Are they the same stars?” He asked, echoing the question Bella had asked herself on the balcony in Mirkwood.

“I think so.” She said, pointing up with her free hand, “There’s the big dipper.”

“And the north star!” He said, smiling so widely Bella worried that he cheeks may hurt. “So they _are_ the same.”

“I think so.” She repeated, “I cannot be sure, completely.”

Frodo hummed, tilting his head back against her shoulder to survey the stars above them, “Do you love Thorin, auntie?” He asked, finally, “Because I know you’re not really marrying him, but I _do_ want him to be my uncle…”

“I love him.” She sighed, softly, adhering to her strict ‘no lying’ policy where Frodo was concerned, “I love him a lot, Frodo.”

“So… are we going to stay here? I want to stay here.” He said, “I like it here. And I like the company and I don’t want to leave them.” He looked up at her with large, pleading eyes and Bella’s heart broke.

“Oh, firefly, I want to stay too. But I don’t know if we can.” As a matter of fact, Bella knew next to nothing. “I don’t know anything. I don’t know why we’re here, or how we got here, or how long we get to stay, and Gandalf is _useless_ so I’m just trying to keep us all alive and-”

“Miss. Baggins,” Balin called from the entrance to the house they’d been staying in, “the prince is asking for you. The worst is over now, I’m glad to report.”

“Is he…?” She started, and the old dwarf smiled.

“He will live.” He said, and every bit of tension drained from Bella’s limbs so suddenly that she nearly fell over.

Sure, they still had to deal with dragon but Kili was going to _live_. And he was asking for her.

Bella nearly ran up the stairs and into the house. “Frodo, you’re going to stay with Balin for a couple of minutes while I go and check on Kee, ok?”

Frodo looked mutinous, “But I wanna see him!”

“You can’t until he’s feeling a little bit better.” Bella told him, smoothing back his hair.

Her nephew’s eyes filled with tears, “Doesn’t he want to see _me_?” He asked.

Bella started to make cooing noises, brushing her thumbs under Frodo’s eyes. “It’s not that, firefly.” She said.

“He doesn’t want you to see him so sick, lad.” Balin added in. “So you and I are going to go and help Bombur prepare some soup so he’ll get his strength back, alright?” He held out his arms, settling Frodo on his hip a moment later when the fauntling grudgingly let himself be handed over.

“Tell him to get better soon.” Frodo demanded, “And that I love him. Lots.” He let go of Balin’s neck to open his arms as wide as they would go. “This much!”

After Bella promised and then hurried up the stairs, feeling guilty that she had left her nephew with the company so often though they didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. Kili was sitting up when Bella arrived and a whole new wave of relief washed over her and she couldn’t help the goofy smile that came across her face.

“Never scare me like that again.” She told him.

“Me?” He pointed at his own face incredulously, “I’m not the one who set an orc on _fire_.”

“I threw a lamp at him because I lost my sword.” She said dryly, “I don’t recommend it.”

“Last time you punched one in the face.” Fili piped up.

“My hand still hurts, don’t do that either.” She made herself comfortable on the edge of Kili’s bed, next to Thorin who was already seated there. “Where is Tauriel?”

“Probably off recovering from that embarrassing babble this idiot sprouted at her while she was healing him.” Oin said, jabbing his thumb in Kili’s direction and Bella had the absolute pleasure of watching Kili’s cheeks light up like fireworks.

“I need to hear this story,” she told Thorin and Fili who were parked at either of Kili’s sides, “right this second. One of you start talking.”

Kili made a valiant effort to smother himself in a pillow while Fili enthusiastically launched into a dramatic tale of how Kili, still delirious from the poison, latched onto Tauriel’s hand and told her that she could not possibly _be_ Tauriel because Tauriel was far away from him dancing in starlight in another world.

Then he asked her if she thought that Tauriel could ever love him. And then he passed out.

Bella made the kind of noise one would make at a three legged puppy and reached over to pat at the princeling’s hand, “Well, at least you told her how you feel. It’s not easy when you’re in your right mind, let me tell you.”

Kili looked from her to Thorin and back again before smiling, “I see your point.” He said, yawning widely.

He was still drawn as pale but he looked _better_ and Bella wanted to wrap him up in a bubble and never let him near anything remotely dangerous again. “You should get some sleep.” She said, “But first, Frodo says that he loves you _this much_ ,” she held her arms out as far as they would go, “and that you need to get better soon because he wants to see you and we won’t let him until you feel better.”

Kili looked affronted, “I feel fine, now.” He said, “A little tired and there’s still a hole in my leg, but I feel more than well enough to snuggle with my favorite hobbit-nephew-cousin. In fact, snuggles will make be feel even better.” He pointed dramatically to the door, “Fetch my hobbit!”

Bella started to laugh and once she started she couldn’t stop, wrapping her arms around her stomach and toppling sideways and into Thorin, tucking her face into his shoulder and cackling like a hyena as his arm wrapped around her.

“Did we break her?” Oin asked, worried, and Bella laughed harder.

“We broke the hobbit!” Fili moaned and there was the distinct sound of more-than-likely-Oin hitting him upside the head. “Ow! Fine, I’ll just go get Frodo.”

As the door swung shut behind him Thorin finally spoke, “Are you alright?”

Bella managed to nod, tears streaming from her eyes as she tried to suck in a breath.

“Is this some kind of stress fueled breakdown that we should all be very glad is coming in the form of laughter?”

Bella nodded again and Thorin pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Okay.”

Frodo was overjoyed to be allowed in the room ahead of schedule, climbing carefully onto the bed, avoiding Kili’s injured leg easily and settling at his side as Fili handed over the bowl of soup that had been sent up for his brother.

Tauriel made her reappearance then, more bandages in tow and a sour expression that softened upon seeing the crowd gathered around the youngest prince. “Hello, Frodo. Bella.” She said, smiling at the not-hobbits.

“Tauriel!” Frodo chirped, waving happily. He would have probably gotten up to hug her had Kili not been holding onto him like a beloved teddy bear. “You fixed Kee!”

“Only his leg.” She replied wryly, “I can’t do anything for his face.”

“What’s wrong with his face?” Frodo asked innocently as the rest of them laughed and Kili looked distinctly put out.

 

Bella went to bed before Thorin did, pressing a kiss to his cheek before going back to her room. She stood there, in the doorway, for nearly a full minute before she sighed, changed into the tank-top that Dori had managed to repair once he realized it was still in his pocket, and walked the four steps down the hallway to his instead.

She wasn’t sure if he would come into her room uninvited and she really didn’t want to sleep by herself so she just eliminated the awkward waiting.

She shucked off her pants when she got there, laying them across the dresser by the window, and then crawled into the side of the bed farthest from the door - Thorin preferred to sleep on the side closest to it. The pillow smelled like the oils he used in his hair and beard, and she hugged it close to her chest.

The way her hair bunched under her in the bun she’d thrown it into was uncomfortable as all hell though, so a minute after she was laying down she was sitting back up to take it out, the blanket falling and pooling around her hips. Thorin’s comb was on the dresser next to her and she reached for it, figuring that he wouldn’t mind her using it.

They’d been a lot more intimate than sharing a comb and it made her stomach warm just thinking about it. She started at the bottom and worked her way up, humming as she went. It was low going; even pinned up as it was the orc fight had not been kind to her hair and it was tangled within an inch of it’s life.

She had gone through half of Taylor Swift’s 1989 album before she was even a quarter of the way done.

Her eyes had apparently closed at some point and so she sudden dip of the bed beside her when Thorin arrived was completely unexpected and made her squeak, quite unattractively, covering her mouth with one hand and nearly braining him with the comb in her other.

“I thought we talked about appearing from the shadows!” She hissed, swatting him with the comb anyways, though she hit his shoulder and not his head.

Thorin ignored her, though he was smiling, curling an arm loosely around her and tugging until she was seated in front of him before he gently took the comb from her and took over her hair.

“How is Kili?” She asked, shifting to curl her legs criss-cross-applesauce in front of her.

“Sleeping. He has Frodo on one side and Fili on the other so I wager he’s very comfortable right now, if a little warm.”

Bella laughed, “Good. I hope you don’t mind I came here, I just didn’t want to sleep alone. I’m so used to having all of you right there-”

“I went to your room first.” Thorin cut in, and Bella didn’t have to look to know that his cheeks were red, “When you weren’t there I came here hoping to find you.”

“And here I am.” Bella said.

“And here you are, pilfering my comb and humming in my bed.” He leant down and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder, “Definitely a sight I wish to see more of once we reclaim Erebor.”

“Durin’s Day is in two days. How long will it take to get to the mountain from here?” She said, instead of telling him that after they reclaim the mountain she would probably be _gone_.

“Not long, now that Kili is healed. We will leave the morning of and reach the gate long before the last light.” He paused, hands still working steadily on her hair, “What was that song you were humming?”

“Just now?” She asked just to be a little facetious and was rewarded by him tugging on her hair in a way that was not at all unpleasant, “Ah... It’s about letting love go so you can grow but the love being so strong that it comes back to you in the end.”

 

* * *

 

 

The trip up to the mountain felt like a leisurely hike compared to the rest of the journey; they were all fed and well rested, it wasn’t raining, nothing was chasing them, and no one was slowly dying from orc poison. It felt like a vacation.

Fili took great joy in retelling the story of Kili declaring that Tauriel walked in starlight to the rest of the company, even going to far as to break out his highly offensive imitation of his little brother. Kili very nearly shot him in the ass for that one.

Bella thought it was beautiful up the mountain. It wasn’t like Rivendell or even Mirkwood; there were no trees, no flowers, nothing _green_ , but it was still beautiful. Maybe she’d been spending too much time with dwarves.

She almost wished she had Frodo to compare noted with but he was (hopefully) safe in Laketown, pouting ferociously about being left behind again.

Because Bella and the company were going to fight a _dragon_ , and while Ori had very optimistically stated that after sixty years the beast was probably dead Bella knew better; she’d written the book on the subject.

Smaug lived and Bella had to get in there and somehow kill him before he escaped the mountain and destroyed Laketown.

At least she finally had half a plan; there was a vial of dark liquid in her pack, wrapped carefully and tucked away out of sight. Thranduil’s spawn had delivered it to Tauriel and Tauriel had given it to Bella.

Legoland explained that it was a heavily modified version of the poison that had nearly killed Kili not two days prior.

Bella had tried to shove it back at Tauriel, not wanting anything to do with it. But they had insisted she take it.

“The dragon cannot escape the mountain, Bella.” Tauriel said, “Not with your nephew so close to it. The first place Smaug will attack is Laketown. He _must_ be eliminated and you _must_ do it inside Erebor.”

Bella took the vial. “Will it be enough?” She asked.

Legless had smiled coolly at her, “With our alterations that vial could kill _four_ fully grown firedrakes in the time it takes you to braid your hair.”

If it worked she would start using his actual name.

“Never smile at a crocodile.” She mumbled, hopping over a fallen branch in her way. “No you can’t get friendly with a croc-o-dile.”

“What’s a crocodeel?” Ori asked and Bella started to laugh despite herself.

“Croco _dile_. And it’s… sort of like a dragon.” She said, “Large, scaley, big teeth. They swim instead of fly, though.”

Ori’s eyes widened. “That’s terrifying.”

“Well,” Bella said, “that’s why you don’t get taken in by their welcome grin. Because, between you and I, they’re just imagining how well you’ll fit between their skin.” Her own grin was widening by the second.

Frodo had gone on a kick where all he would watch for three solid weeks was Peter Pan.

“Have you ever encountered one of these… Crocodile’s before?” Gloin asked, and Bella realized with a start that all of the company was watching her while they walked.

“Once or twice.” She said, though she had been at the zoo when she’d seen them, “But it’s not like you tip your hat and top to talk a while. You say good bye and not good day.”

“Is that your plan with the dragon, lass?” Dwalin asked, gruffly, and Bella had known him long enough to recognize his worried voice.

“My plan with the dragon is to sass it into submission.” Bella said, “It worked with Thorin.”

“You are not to go near the dragon.” Thorin suddenly said, a little ways ahead of them, “We will find another way to acquire the Arkenstone without-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Bella stopped in her tracks, “Thorin this is what you _hired_ me for.”

Thorin turned around, facing her with his expression as serious as she’d ever seen it, as hard as the diamonds in the mines underneath their feet, “Things have changed, Bella-”

“Oh, so because you’re _fucking_ me now, suddenly I’m incapable of doing my damned job-”

(“They’re going to wake the dragon before we even open the door.” Balin whispered to Oin.)

“I never said that you were incapable-”

“It was _implied_ , you royal jackass-”

“You’re being unreasonable-”

“Why did I even come on this quest in the first place then? I am a _burglar_ you son of a-”

(Off to the side Bofur dropped to the ground and pulled a hunk of bread from his pack. The rest of the company quickly followed his lead.)

“It is too dangerou-”

“I killed three orcs two days ago-”

“Orcs are not _dragons_ , Bella!”

(Nori started taking bets on who was going to win; only Dwalin put his coin on Thorin, and that was only because _someone_ had to.)

“It’s _one_ dragon! And he’s sleeping! As long as I’m quiet I can get in and get out with your stupid bloody rock and -”

“Belladonna!”

“Thorin!” Bella crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “I’m going.”

“You’re not going.”

 

“Now, remember lass,” Balin said as Bella peered into the tunnel, “just find the Arkenstone and then we will come back with an entire army of dwarves to take care of the dragon.”

“Got it.” Bella nodded, though she knew it was not going to work like that. Things never went that easy.

Hell, even finding the door had been more difficult than she had thought; mostly because when the last ray of _sunlight_ of Durin’s day had failed to reveal the keyhole they had all wanted to give up. Even though _moonlight_ was actually the kind of light that had revealed the map to them in the first bloody place.

But no, dwarves had to go and be all huffy about it and leave Bella standing up on that cliff with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face until the moon had risen and she got to triumphantly call to the dwarves to get their pouty asses back up there before she opened the door without them.

She still had no more than a vague idea on what to do about the dragon, and even less idea what to do about the Arkenstone (she was half considering giving it to Smaug and letting him melt the goddamn thing).

And on top of that all, Thorin was pissed at her. Which was actually her least pressing problem in the grand scheme of things but even so it left her with a sick feeling in her stomach.

“Get in, get the rock, get out, and don’t wake the dragon. Easy enough.” She said, her fingers twitching against Sting’s hilt. “Simple plan, really.” She was _not_ going to ask what could possibly go wrong because she was not going to jinx herself. “Okay.” She sighed, turning to smile weakly at the company, trying to appear braver than she was, “I’ll see you all in a little while.”

Kili surged forward then, still a little tender on his bad leg, and pulled her into a tight hug, tucking his face into her shoulder. “Be safe.” He told her.

“I will.” She promised, laughing as Fili came up behind them and hugged her as well. “Don’t do anything dumb, you two.”

“Please, you’re taking all the idiocy with you.” Fili huffed and she laughed again.

The entire company took turns hugging her and wishing her well, Dwalin even ducking down and tucking another knife into the sheath at her thigh _just in case_ , because there wouldn’t be any lamps for her to throw at Smaug should she lose her sword.

Thorin was the only one who kept his distance, at least until Fili and Kili jabbed their elbows into his ribs and shoved him forward with twin rolls of their eyes.

Bella hadn’t felt so awkward in front of him since the very beginning of their adventure but then he seemed to give in, reaching out and wrapping her in his arms and she sighed, melting into him and pressing her face into the fur of his coat.

“Be careful.” When Thorin said it it was less a command and more a plea, “Please, for the love of Durin be careful in there.”

“I will be.” She promised, pulling away and trying to smile“I’ll be fine. Back before second breakfast.”

Thorin chuckled despite himself and raised a hand to sink into her hair and pull her into a kiss; the first one in front of the company. She nearly drowned in it; she could feel his worry for her in the way he kissed her and she poured every ounce of reassurance she possessed into that kiss in return.

“I’ll come back.” She promised him when he opened his mouth, meeting his eyes and pressing another quick kiss to the corner of his mouth before she broke out of the tight circle of his arms and ducked into the tunnel. “No need to say goodbye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter actually holds my two favorite bits; "Fetch my hobbit!" and of course the argument before entering Erebor.
> 
> The title of it comes from the Taylor Swift song "This Love"
> 
> I definitely (with permission) jacked the info on Thorin's family (particulalry his grandmother, mother, and brother-in-law), and the battle of Azanulbizar from the AMAZING fic [Sansukh](http://archiveofourown.org/works/855528/chapters/1637607) by the fantastic [determamfidd](http://archiveofourown.org/users/determamfidd/pseuds/determamfidd)
> 
> Khuzdul translations;  
> Adad - Father  
> Nadad- Brother
> 
> Next Chapter- THE DRAGON ;D


	7. Hiding In The Glitter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a dragon and the Arkenstone is a Mean Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the fun part about always being two chapters ahead of the game is that when something SUPER cool happens, LIKE THIS HITTING ONE HUNDRED KUDOS I can post the next chapter a day and a half early in celebration!
> 
> Thank you, everyone <3 You're literally the best.

The inside of the mountain was dark and cold and smelled of death and fire even sixty years later; it was going to take a lot of work for her to see Erebor as more than a tomb.

As she went, silent on her hobbit feet, she wondered _where the fuck Gandalf was_. He had told them, straight up, not to enter the mountain without him but that had...not...happened.

Wherever he was, Bella hoped that he came back with answers for her. She only needed two out of five; she had the who (Galadriel), the what (brought Bella to Arda), the when (nine months ago, give or take), and the where (Arda); she only needed why and how.

And so help her, she was going to get those answers.

Once she killed the dragon and dealt with Thorin’s goldsickness. Maybe she could just push him off the mountain and hope that did the trick? It worked for Hawkeye in _The Avengers_.

And at least she wasn’t flying completely blind into the dragon situation anymore. There was a little vial of Insta-Kill in her bag; the only trick now was to somehow get the poison inside the dragon.

She should have brought Kili, she realized with a start; he could have dipped an arrow in the poison and shot Smaug. But she’d already nearly gotten the youngest prince killed once, so no. He was going to stay far away from the dragon if she had anything to say about it; ideally she would have left him in Laketown with Frodo along with the rest of the company while she dealt with Smaug’s scaley ass.

The sight of the treasure hoard took her breath away; an ocean of gold and gems piled high to the ceiling. How in the world was she supposed to find one particular shiny rock in that?

Bella’s stomach sank; and on top of that, Smaug could be snoozing anywhere. She was probably going to end up stepping on his face and waking him up before she could stab him with the poison.

Wouldn’t that be a show?

Had Bella’s feet been the normal, thin-skinned feet that she had gone to bed with all those nights ago it probably would have been the most uncomfortable hour of her life; picking through the treasure, trying very hard to be as quiet as she possibly could be; which was shockingly quiet, now that she stopped to think about it.

The Arkenstone was proving frustratingly difficult to find, however, as it was just one particular shiny rock in an actual ocean of incredibly shiny rocks. The only difference between the Arkenstone and the piece of rose quartz that Bella had just stubbed her toe on was that the _Arkenstone_ , shiny life ruiner that it was, was going to throw Thorin into a damn near unbreakable frenzy that it was distressing her just to think about.

Because that’s what life ruiners do; they ruin people’s lives like Regina George.

_The Arkenstone was a Mean Gir_ l.

“Arkenstone shmarkenstone.” She whispered to herself, “A large, white jewel.” She rolled her eyes, “Fancy way of saying it’s a _rock_ , which is _super helpful_ , _guys, thank you_.”

Next time they could find their own rock.

A second hour passed, and then a third. She figured that Fili and Kili were basically vibrating out of their skin by the end of the fourth hour. She had said she’d be bad in a little while but no one had seen fit to tell her that she was looking for a particular needle in a very large pile of needles.

She picked up a goblet and hurled it as hard as she could, for a moment not giving a damn as it clattered and fell. She was tired, hungry, annoyed, and _terrified_ to the point where she wasn’t actually scared anymore, if that made any sense at all, and as far as she was concerned Smaug The Terrible could kiss her ass.

Except, that was a hard mentality to keep when you suddenly found yourself face to face, or rather _entire body to left eye_ with the aforementioned  firedrake. Picking up the goblet had induced a small avalanche of displaced coins which were _apparently_ the coins which Smaug was napping under.

What were the odds, huh?

Bella managed a broken gasp, all of the air leaving her lungs with a faint squeak as she scrambled behind a pillar, pressing her back against the cool stone and willing her heart to slow down.

When a loud, sudden huff of air sent more coins toppling from the dragon’s muzzle Bella nearly shrieked, both of her hands coming up to press over her mouth as she squeezed her eyes shut and contemplated clicking her heels three times and wishing for home.

Apparently there was a _whole new level of fear_ where she went back to being scared shitless and she had just crossed that threshold.

The clatter of more and more coins falling from their resting places atop the dragon as he moved was almost loud enough to drown out the sound of Bella’s own heart pounding in her ears. Oh, god. Oh, god. She had joked about waking the dragon accidentally with the company to relieve some of the tension, mostly for Ori’s sake, the sweet little bugger, but she had never stopped to think about what she would actually do if she _did._

Bella took an attempt at a calming breath, though it did little more than remind her how small she was and how little her breath was compared to the absolutely massive beast curled around the pillar she was pressed against and currently _waking up._

She had to get away. Far, far away. She started forward, pushing off the stone behind her with her arms and making a mad dash for the general vicinity of _anywhere but there_. She only got a few yards away before she was ducking into a crouch as another movement sent more gold raining down around her.

She turned, a scream building in her throat, and stood frozen in place for several long moments before slowly, a massive golden eye blinked open and she could move again; throwing herself down behind a higher pile of gold and praying to every deity she didn’t necessarily believe in that he didn’t see her,

Didn’t...

See...

Her…

She was so stupid sometimes, honestly, how was she still alive? The ring was out of her pocket and on her finger. The world slowed down, as it always did when Bella wore the ring, and she sat up, watching with nothing short of absolute horror as, very slowly, almost lazily, Smaug raised his massive head.

“I smell you.” Was all he had and Bella’s heart _stopped_.

On top of their size, flight capabilities, fire-breathing, and the whole dragon hoard curse thing they had going on… they also had super-sniffers?

That hardly seemed fair.

“Where are you?” Smaug rumbled and _nope._

Nope, nope, nopity, nope. This was not in the job description.

Bella ran. What else was there to do when a hundred ton furnace with wings knew you were there and wanted you to not be there? You run for your freaking life. Treasure flew in all directions as Bella hauled ass with Smaug in hot pursuit.

Dear lord. There was a _dragon_ in hot pursuit of her.

_There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home._

In all honestly, Bella was doing more sliding and falling than actual running, even her hobbit-feet useless on the rapidly flowing gold beneath them. She smashed into another pillar, bad shoulder first of course, and slid into the crevice there, having to suck in her everything so her chest would sort of fit.

“Come now,” the dragon purred, “don’t be shy. Come out a play. There’s something… interesting about you, little thief.”

Bella froze. Did he know?

“Something almost like gold but...more… _precious._ ”

Bella must have blacked out for a second; one moment she was hidden, pressed into the pillar and invisible to even a dragon’s keen eyesight, and the next there was a stab of something behind her eyes, a flash of fire and death, and she was out in the open, the ring in her pocket, and the dragon was staring at her in what she thought was surprise.

“A woman.” He rumbled, “I did not expect the little thief to be a _woman_.”

“I-” she stuttered before squaring her shoulders and pushing back her panic, “I expect there are all manner of perfectly fearsome lady dragons who would take offense to that statement.”

Smaug reared back in what was _definitely_ surprise, “You dare-”

“Oh, please.” Bella scoffed, interrupting him the way she had Thorin hours earlier, “I have shooed bigger lizards than you out of my bathtub back home, oh Smaug The Great, so pardon me if I’m not shaking in my boots.” She wasn’t wearing boots. The sentiment stood.

“What is your name, insulting little thief?” Smaug hissed and Bella nearly laughed at how offended he was.

It wasn’t one of her brightest ideas, insulting a dragon who could very easily eat her. But, Bella figured that no one had ever dared to do just that and that fact alone would keep her interesting to him and therefore keep her alive for a little while longer, possibly long enough to get herself out of the colossal mess.

“I am…” she paused, “The Storyteller.” She said, “Star Counter.” Her eyes locked on something, off to the right of them, something about the size of her fist that glittered like the stars she claimed to count and sang some mythical, unheard song. So that was what all the fuss was about. While she was distracted, Smaug had gotten very close to her, so close that she could smell the stink of his breath as he sniffed at her.

“And _what_ , are you?” He asked, and Bella gagged quietly.

What was she? Well, for one she was about to be sick if he didn’t quickly discover the concept of personal space and Listerine. “I am a _writer_.” She said, “And I am not afraid of you.” She was, actually, more than a little afraid of him but he did not need to know that.

Smaug sneered, moving away again, “And what of the dwarves you travel with? Do they fear me? They must, to send such a little thief in here all by herself.”

Bella’s breath caught in her throat, “Dwarves?” She said. “I do not know any-”

“Do not _lie_ , to me.” The dragon growled, “I can smell them. They are all over you like another skin.”

“Well, then I hate to break it to you, Oh Smaug The Smelly, but I’ve never seen a dwarf in my life.” She lied, trying for nonchalant as she slowly shifted towards where the Arkenstone was laying, innocently, like it wasn’t the Plastic Queen of shiny rocks, “In fact, I’ve seen a dwarf about as often as you’ve seen a toothbrush, I’d wager.” This habit of sassing creatures that could very easily kill her needed to _stop_.

“You are a bad thief and an even worse liar.” Smaug roared, flailing his tail wildly and sending the stone, and Bella, flying backwards in a shower of gold.

She yelled as she tumbled backwards, landing in a heap on cold stone and being covered by a pile of dwarven treasure a moment later while Smaug went on and on about how he always knew this day would come. He always knew that one day dwarves would return to Erebor looking for their treasure because they just _couldn’t help it_.

Bella wished she were eighty feet tall, just for like ten seconds, so she could punch him right in the nose and have him actually feel it.

In his monologuing, Smaug’s tail toppled a pillar with a loud bang that trembled the mountain around them and Bella winced, biting back a series of very unladylike swear words from her place buried in the gold.

They would have felt that, the dwarves. There was no way they were going to let that go.

Bella slid from her hiding place a Smaug paced around her, running quickly across stone that was scattered with gold and precious gems to press her back to yet another pillar.

“Thorin Oakenshield!” The dragon crowed, “He sent you in here to find the Arkenstone, did he not?” And as he spoke, Bella’s eyes landed on it again. Balin was right about one thing; she did recognize it right off the bat, but only because someone seemed to have imbedded a LED light in the middle of the damn thing. “Not that it matters,” he continued, “there is a darkness coming. One that not even the high elves of Lothlorien predicted. It comes from every corner of Arda… But you already know that, don’t you? _Storyteller_?”

The blood froze in Bella’s veins, her fingers barely an inch from wrapping around the Arkenstone. “What do you mean?”

“Do you think I do not know? I am Smaug The Terrible!” He was almost smirking at her, like this amused him. He was tiger with a field mouse and he knew it. “You are not simply a storyteller are you, little thief?” Bella didn’t answer and his eyes lowered smugly, “No, you are not. You are special, aren’t you? You know things.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said.

“Yes, you do.” He said, “I know it, and so does the darkness. But does Thorin Oakenshield?”

Bella swallowed harshly against the bile rising in her throat, “I…” She tried.

Glee was never an expression Bella thought she would ever see upon Smaug’s face -especially since in her mind the whole thing went much smoother than it actually had and she found the Arkenstone straight off and jammed a poisoned knife into the open spot on Smaug’s armour before he knew she was there. “You?” He mocked her, “You what, Star Counter? You haven’t told him about you?”

“I-” Bella started, but Smaug wasn’t finished.

“You love him.” He said, and Bella could swear that he was grinning. “You love him and _he is using you_. You are nothing to him, a warm body, a means to an end. He wants the Arkenstone more than he ever wanted you!”

“No!” Bella finally found her voice and hated how hard it shook, “No, you’re lying!” Thorin cared for her, Thorin had told her that he cared for her. In Mirkwood, and then again in Laketown. He didn’t _want_ her to go after the Arkenstone, but she had insisted.

“What did he offer you in return? A share of the treasure?” Smaug sneered cruelly, “His _heart_ perhaps? As if it was his to give; dwarves have one true love, little writer and it is gold.”

Bella lunged for the Arkenstone then, while he spewed his wicked lies and her eyes burned despite herself, her arm outstretched when Smaug gave a great flap of his enormous wings and sent her flying again. She hit the stone painfully, losing her breath as the back of her head struck the ground.

“My teeth are swords!” He yelled, “My claws are spears! My wings, a hurricane!”

She sat up, biting back a groan, “You want to talk about hurricanes, spears, and swords?” She asked, her head throbbing painfully with every word, “Try riding down a river in a barrel while orcs throw _actual_ swords and spears at you. _Then_ we will talk.”

Then she saw it. The chink in his armour, the missing scale. “It was true.” She whispered to herself, “The black arrow found it’s mark.”

“What?” Smaug hissed and Bella scrambled to her feet, screwing her face up into the most insolent expression she could muster.

“I was just saying,” She said, “That think it’s hilarious that I survived twenty-nine Christmas dinners with Lobelia Sackville-Baggins and you think that I am afraid of _you_.” Her voice trailed off.

It was _right there_. Not two feet from her, laying on the ground like a common piece of trash (and while Bella was absolutely sure that it _was_ , actually, a piece of trash even she had to admit that it was in no way common).

Smaug saw it too, “I am almost tempted to let you take it.”

“How about you take it?” Bella said instead, “Or melt it. Can you melt it? Seriously, just get rid of the goddamn thing, it gives me heartburn.”

“No.” Smaug said, “I will not destroy it. Nor will I part with it. I will not part with one single coin. But if I were to, I would have you give it to him. Watch it destroy him, corrupt him, all while you watch it happen right before your very eyes. Unable to help him as it steals his heart completely the way that you never could. It will drive you mad as it does him.”

Bella’s heart clenched. If Thorin got the Arkenstone that was exactly what would happen and both she and Smaug knew it.

“But no.” He said, “No, I’m afraid our game is over -”

Bella disappeared and was moving, the Arkenstone sliding into her pocket, before he could even finish his sentence.

_Nopity nope._

 

Smaug was angry. Very angry. He was trashing the place looking for Bella while she was nowhere to be found.

She literally ran into Thorin, smack dab into his chest not a second after she’d taken the ring off; after the incident where she’d lost time earlier she was definitely more weary about if and for how long she wore the thing.

“Thorin.” She gasped, grabbing onto his tunic to steady herself, “Thorin, we have to get out of here, the dragon-” But there was something off. Something about the expression in his eyes that unsettled her to the point where she felt like she was looking at a whole different person.

“You’re alive.” He breathed, his eyes softening into something a little more recognizable.

“Not for much longer if we don’t-”

“Did you find the Arkenstone?” He cut her off and a chill went down her spine.

“Thorin, listen to me, the dragon is _coming_.”

“The Arkenstone.” He insisted and she almost gave it to him. He looked so hopeful, so desperate for the one thing that would draw his people to him like moths to an impossibly bright flame.

"I couldn't find it." She lied, her heart falling with his expression.  "I am so sorry,  Thorin." She said,  and this she meant.  "There was just so much to go though..."

Thorin reached up, shushing her gently and cupping the side of her face with one large hand, “We will find it.” He said, smiling down at her, and Bella let herself hope just a little that maybe things wouldn’t go as horribly as she had anticipated.

“I’m sure we will.” She assured him, looking over her shoulder as Smaug roared behind them, “I know how to kill him.” She said, “The tale Bard told was the truth, there is a missing scale on his chest. I have poison in my pack and-”

“You have _what_?” Whatever cloud had descended upon the king vanished in a second as he peered around her at the bag strapped to her back. "Where-"

“Not important,” she said, waving a hand impatiently, “we need to..get…” Movement over Thorin’s shoulder caught her eye and she turned her head, immediately wishing she hadn’t, “out…” she finished in barely more than a squeak.

As Thorin whirled around, immediately placing himself in front of Bella, she was reminded, rather hilariously of the scene from the first _Shrek_ movie where Fiona exclaims, “You didn’t slay the dragon?!” and Shrek replies, “It’s on my to do list!”

“Oh my god,” she whispered as the realization hit, the rest of the company skidding out onto the pathway, “I’m the ogre in this scenario.”

“What?” Nori asked, turning just barely, “Who’s an ogre?”

“I am.” Bella replied, “And Thorin is the princess.”

“What?” Thorin spoke this time though it was overshadowed by Dwalin shouting loudly.

Ori flew past Bella with a yelp, followed by Fili and Kili, then Gloin and Nori and Bofur, and Bella looked up just in time to see the wall of fire coming at them all alarmingly fast.

She shrieked as Thorin wrapped his arm around her and dived off the edge of the walkway, the flames passing so close that the acrid stench of burning hair filled Bella’s nostrils and nearly made her gag as they crashed onto a pile of gold.

They had barely landed when Thorin was pulling her up again and shoving her forward, “Go, go, go!”

Bella followed Fili and Kili down the hidden corridor she hadn’t noticed before, looking over her shoulder every couple of steps to make sure that Thorin was still behind her. She tripped, entering the chamber at the end of the hallway, skidding across the stone floor on her hands and knees, the rough surface tearing her skin to shreds.

Thorin tumbled through the door seconds later, stripping off his flaming coat and quickly putting out the ends of his hair.

Bella sat up, unhooking her pack and pulling it around to her front. Her hand left dark, bloody smears across the pale green fabric but it couldn’t be helped, “Kili.” She said, throwing the one long plait of her hair over her shoulder and motioning the youngest prince over to her in the same motion.

Kili dropped down in front of her, his short hair singed and his face darkened with soot. “What is it, Bella?”

She riffled through her bag, pushing aside her hesitancy to involve him; she had no choice, now. “I don’t want…” She sighed, carefully picking up the wrapped vial and peeling back the layers around it. It didn’t look like a lot, but Legolas had assured her that it would work and she believed him, heaven help her. Kili stiffened as she held it up to the dim light, “You know what this is.”

“Orc poison.” He grunted and the company around them seemed to hold their breath, Fili sunk to the ground next to his brother, looking anything but happy as he clasped their fingers together.

“Kind of. The base of it is, but the elves have done something to it.” She swallowed hard, “Gods, Kili, believe me if I thought there was any other way I never would have involved you but it’s just that-”

“I’m the only one here who can shoot a bow.”

“No one can get close enough to stab him.” Bella confirmed, “It has to be an arrow. And he cannot leave this mountain.”

“Frodo.” Fili whispered.

“Give me the poison.” Kili said.

 

Creeping through the ruins of Erebor and seeing no sign of the dragon at all was actually worse than stepping from their hiding spot and finding him sitting there reading _Harry Potter_ and casually waiting to eat them.

It was like those horror movies that scared the viewers with the build up rather than the villain themself.

“Did we give him the slip?” Dori asked, sandwiching Ori between himself and Dwalin while Nori kept a solid grip on Bofur’s arm.

“No.” Bella shook her head, “No, he’s here.”

The coin that bounced off Bella’s nose, however, said otherwise. It clattered to the ground, fourteen pairs of wide, terrified eyes glued to it as it spun and then laid over on it’s side. Thorin slowly raised his eyes upward, Bella following suit and biting back a gasp.

Smaug was directly above them, though he hadn’t realized they were there yet.

Thorin’s fingers curled around Bella’s arm, tugging her in close as he motioned them on very quietly. They ran on silent feet, not stopping until Bella felt that her lungs would burst and she started resisting Thorin’s hold on her.

“Stop.” She pleaded, digging her feet into the stone, “I can’t…” She pulled away from the king and braced her hands on her knees, breathing heavily as her heart pounded in her chest. “I need…”

Fili and Kili took up either side of her, both seemingly fine aside for the slight favoring of Kili’s uninjured leg. “Are you alright?” Fili asked, his hand landing in the middle of Bella’s shoulder blades.

Bella waved a hand, still trying to catch her breath. “M’fine.” She said a moment later, straightening her spine. “I am not built from the same things you are.” She reminded Thorin, sternly. “I can’t run like that. Which is why you lot are going to be the ones who… Thorin?”

He wasn’t paying any attention to her, his eyes were locked on something behind her and when she turned around she had to quickly shove her hand over her mouth. Dozens of dwarves lay behind the open door at Bella’s back; rotting and covered in sixty years worth of dust and cobwebs.

Thorin shouldered his way through, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin and Balin half a step behind him. By their expressions they more than likely all had someone that room who they knew and loved before Smaug’s attack.

Bella’s eyes roved the room as the rest of the dwarves filed in; she didn’t have a place in that room, in that grief. It was the kind of grief that she could only half understand; she had lost people, but she hadn’t lost people on such a massive scale or in such a horrible, violent way.

“Oh…” Bella breathed, finally catching sight of what had drawn all the dwarves there in the first place so long ago; a caved in doorway. “They were trying to get out.” She whispered.

“They must have come here as a last resort…” Balin said, softly, his voice thick.

Bella picked around the living dwarves, coming to stand next to Thorin, her shoulders squared and her hands clenched into lightly trembling fists at her side. “This cannot go unanswered.” She said softly, surprised by her own fierceness.

These were not her people, her friends, lying around her. But they just as well could have been and she was not about to let history repeat itself.

“It will _not_.” Thorin answered her, sliding his hand around her fist, coaxing it open so he could intertwine their fingers, his grip firm and sure. “This ends today.”

“What do you plan on doing, Thorin?” Dwalin asked.

“Not dying sounds like a great plan.” Fili added.

“The poison.” Bella said. “We just have to give Kili an opening.”

“We will split up,” Thorin decided, “head for the forges. He cannot chase all of us at once.”

Bella almost argued that yes, he could, he was certainly big enough to accomplish that if he really put his mind to it.

“Lad, we will not make it -” Balin tried to argue.

“We will lead him to the forges.” The king said, more forcefully. “We kill this dragon.” It was there again, the something inside of Thorin that made Bella want to follow him into anything everytime it came out. She squeezed his hand, nodding determinedly when he turned to look at her. Something in his eye seemed to settle into place at her approval and he turned back to face the rest of them _“If this is to end in fire then we will all burn together_.”

 

It was like the most dangerous episode of _Scooby Doo_ that the world had ever seen; Thorin had wanted Bella to stay with him, which, while it made her stomach clench very inappropriately given the current situation, was very impractical.

Balin went with Thorin.

Ori with Dwalin and Dori.

Nori and Bofur.

Bombur and Bifur.

Gloin and Oin.

And Bella with Fili and Kili.

They lured Smaug to the forge, every time he got close to one group, another would make a ruckus and lure him to them, Bella would shout things in Hobbit (seriously, thank her mother for being adamant on the Irish lessons as a child).

_“Ar do chlé!”_

_"Luaidhe air ar shiúl ó ann!"_

_"Is iad na cinn eile síos an bealach!"_

And somehow, someway, it worked.

(Nori would later tell her of that one time that Thorin jumped down a mineshaft, almost fell to his death, _stood on Smaug’s nose,_ almost got eaten, and then basically flew back up out of the shaft via a rope and counterweight only to very nearly get both himself and Nori roasted… and Bella would suck in a deep, calming breath before searching out the king and slamming her fist into his shoulder as hard as she could -the bruised knuckle was worth it.)

But there was a small problem. “The furnaces are cold.” Dwalin told Thorin the very second the king came into view, “There’s nothing hot enough to light them again, Thorin we-”

“Hello!” Bella piped up, pushing a lock of hair that had escaped her braid off of her face impatiently, “There is a _dragon_.”

Understanding dawned. The plan adapted.

“I did not think you would be so easily outwitted!” Thorin shouted, moving towards the opening where Bella could see the dragon climbing out of the mine, “You have grown _slow_ and _fat_!” Bella laughed into her hand, despite the terror in her chest, completely missing the next thing that he said, though he ended his montage of insults with one word, “ _Slug_!” Then, he turned to them, the expression on his face smug and more than a little vengeful, “Take cover.” He told them, as Smaug reared back to roast them.

The company surged forward, pressing against the metal pillars separating them from Smaug. Bella took the one next to Thorin, turning her head to face him and smiling shakily through the wall of flames that appeared the next second. “What now?” She called as the first furnace lit under Smaug’s barrage, and then another, and then another.

“Bombur!” Thorin called as the flames stopped, “The bellows!” The large Ur brother took off, and Bella was, once again, in awe of his speed. “Now, Belladonna,” he pulled her over, pointing to something above her head, “do you see that lever?” She nodded, “On my mark, pull it.” Bella’s stomach sank a little, remembering the last lever she tried to pull, but she nodded nonetheless.

“What’s your mark? Panicked screaming?” She asked, trying to do anything to calm the turmoil in her stomach as Smaug slammed his entire body at the metal separating him from his meal.

Thorin chucked, reaching up and pushing that same lock of hair behind her ear, “You will know it.” He said, “Now go and be careful.”

“You too.” She told him, very seriously, before she turned and ran.

When the dragon burst through Bella was already up on the ledge waiting, keeping tabs on all thirteen of her dwarves; only Thorin was still out in the open. And Smaug took one look him and then turned to Bella, smirking at her.

“We meet again, _St oryteller_ _._ ” He nearly purred, taking a step closer to her, “Tell me, does he-”

“Bella!” Thorin roared, “ _Now_!”

Bella pulled the lever before Smaug could get another word out, water bursting forth from the mouths of a dozen stone dwarves like she had turned on a faucet.

Steam erupted where the water touched the dragon and he roared, stumbling away and waving his wings wildly like a startled, pissed off kitten on Youtube.

Bella didn’t care about Smaug, however, she was too preoccupied watching the complicated mechanics that the water set off; it _powered_ the forge. The water hit the wheel, the wheel turned and in return turned the gears, which started the conveyer belt of barrels… the smash of ceramic and a loud flash and bang caught her attention, however, and she stumbled backwards with a shriek at how _close_ Smaug had gotten to her.

But dwarves, apparently, made really good molotov cocktails.

Bella climbed down while Balin had the dragon distracted, heading towards Thorin as soon as her feet touched the ground; the king was struggling to pull a chain that had probably rusted in place from sixty years of disuse and she wrapped her hands around it just above his, locking their eyes together before she grinned and said, “Pull.” Just as she lifted her feet completely off the ground, using the whole of her body weight.

Molten gold raced through the tracks in the wall and the floor, the heat from is so intense that it almost burned her skin.

Smaug _lost his mind_.

“The gallery of the kings... “ Thorin whispered, pulling Bella to her feet -when the chain had pulled her ass had hit the ground, “Get him into the gallery of the kings!” He shouted, louder, starting on his way there himself, pulling Bella along after him.

“Gallery of the… Dwarves suck at naming things!” She gasped, wiping sweat from her eyes with her elbow, trying to keep up with Thorin even as the dragon wailed behind them. “Where is Kili?” She asked upon entering the gallery, her shoulders relaxing the slightest bit as the youngest prince peeked out from behind a slab of stone, his bow at the ready with the tip of the arrow glistening with the poison from Bella’s bag.

Everything was in position.

Bella and Thorin split up then, as was the plan. Bella, pissed off at her as Smaug was, was the perfect bait. Small and easily hidden with her “hobbit ability” to disappear, she was supposed to lure the dragon just where they wanted him.

And she did, easily, though there was the tiny hiccup where he crashed through the wall slightly sooner than she thought he would and she ended up nearly being crushed under a banner, but it turned out to be a pretty good hiding spot.

“Do you think you can deceive me, Star counter?!” Smaug shouted, “I am not as easily fooled as your _Thorin Oakenshield._ This is some plot between the dwarves and men of Laketown!” The mention of Laketown made Bella’s heart stop. “ _Maybe I should pay them a visit-_ ”

She scrambled out from under the banner, “This isn’t their fault!” She screamed, panic overriding everything else in her mind, the plan included. Smaug _could not_ attack Laketown. “Wait!” She cried as Smaug moved towards the window, “You cannot go to Laketown!” When she had written it, Bard had killed Smaug in Laketown with the last of Girion’s black arrows but Laketown had been destroyed in the process. That absolutely could not happen, now.

The dragon stopped, “You care about them.” He said, turning, stepping forward until he was close enough that Bella could have touched him, “There is someone there who you care for _greatly_.” He chuckled humorlessly, “Good. Then you can watch them _die._ ” He turned away again, Bella’s heart dropping with every step he took away from her.

But what could she do to stop a dragon?

_Frodo._

“You Witless Worm!” Thorin called, and Bella had been never so happy to see anyone in all of her life.

Smaug turned, hatred in his eyes, and hissed out a low, “ _You._ ”

Thorin stood, like an old action hero, on the shoulder of the stone king in the front of the room. Bella knew what was coming and she had to get off the ground. There was a banner that hadn’t quite fallen, and it seemed secure enough. She used it to pull herself up to the second level, collapsing onto her knees and watching, locking eyes with Kili behind the pillar directly across from her and nodding as he pulled his bow taught, his eyes dropping from hers to zero in on the missing scale. He had three poisoned arrows. Three chances to save everything.

He was so young to have so much resting on his shoulders, but Bella had no doubts that he would come through.

She couldn’t afford to have doubts.

“I am taking back what you stole.” Thorin declared, his face made of the stone he so loved.

“You will do what a whole mountain full of your kin could not?” Smaug asked mockingly, “No, no you will take nothing from me, dwarf. I am the king under the mountain now.”

“You are king of _nothing_.” Thorin hissed, raising a hand to the rope above his head, “This is dwarf land, and we will have our revenge.”

As the rest of the company worked on breaking the statue that their king stood upon, Kili fired the first of his arrows. Bella held her breath. He just missed.

Smaug barely noticed the arrow bouncing uselessly off his hide, distracted as he was by the stone falling away and revealing a beautiful, golden king. Even Bella, who was not easily swayed by shiny things, was momentarily dazzled by it’s brilliance, even as Smaug leaned in utterly enraptured. But, molten gold can only hold it’s shape for so long.

It collapsed in on itself, like a tsunami of beautiful, golden lava, dragging Smaug along in it’s wake.

“Kili!” Bella shouted, “Try again! _Arís!_ ” 

The prince fired the second arrow.

Again, it did not find it’s mark.

But maybe it would be alright. Maybe the gold would do it’s trick.

Maybe…

_Maybe_ …

Smaug vanished, swallowed by the river of rushing gold, and Bella thought that maybe that had done it. Her shoulders relaxed and she turned to share a smile with Thorin just as he turned to share one with her.

That’s when Smaug burst out of the gold, wailing like a banshee about how he was _fire_ , he was _death_ as he hurtled towards the window, towards Laketown, towards _Frodo._

“Kili!” Bella shrieked, getting to her feet and running across the stone, after the dragon, “Kili, now! Shoot him now!”

“I don’t have a clear shot!” Kili shouted, running as well, directly parallel to her, “Bella I don’t-”

The crash as Smaug broke through the window was nearly deafening, almost as loud as the scream that left Bella’s lips. He was going to kill them, he was going to kill them all unless...unless...

Kili stood at the window, his bow drawn and his eyebrows furrowed as he muttered under his breath, “One...two...three….One...two...three….One…” It took Bella a second to realize that he was counting the intervals between Smaug’s wing flaps the way a musician would count the beats.

“One...two...three…” she began to count with him softly. “One...two...three…”

The twang of Kili’s bow was as familiar to her as breathing, he’d used it to save her life on more occasions than she could count, but this was the most important shot of his life and for a moment neither of them were sure that he had made it.

Silence rang, heavy as the entire mountain around them. And then, then, over the water, so close to Laketown that Bella began to think all was lost…

The dragon fell.

He’d barely noticed the arrow, small as it was compared to his size, but the poison had done as Legolas and Tauriel had promised and Bella would kiss the elves the next time that she saw them.

If she was ever able to stand again.

Her knees gave out as the splash of Smaug’s body hitting the water broke the oppressive silence. She collapsed onto the stone floor, relieved tears pouring from her eyes like someone had flicked a switch.

Kili dropped next to her, his head coming to lay on her shoulder, she turned, falling into his arms and wrapping her own around his middle tightly and after a moment they were both laughing, the kind of laughter that happened when it was either laugh or _throw up_.

They...did it. They killed the dragon, they reclaimed Erebor in the name of the dwarves, _they didn’t die in the process_. They were all exhausted, bruised, and singed, but alive.

Somehow. Miraculously. Against every single odd stacked against them.

They laughed until the rest of the company reached them, twelve dirty, sweaty, disbelieving dwarves who just collapsed on top of and around them, laughing and crying and generally expressing their elation and astonishment that they were all still breathing.

Bella sought Thorin as Fili tackled his brother to the ground, laughing like a couple of hyenas. She reached a hand up, out of the pile, the familiar fingers of the king under the mountain closing around hers and pulling her up, up, up, out from under Bofur and into his arms.

She looked up at him, tears on her face but her grin undaunted, “We did it.” She said, and the words made her laugh anew. “We actually did it.”

Thorin, filthy and sweaty and utterly, utterly perfect, smiled back at her. “We did it.” He repeated. “Erebor is ours.”

“Well, Thorin Oakenshield, you just reclaimed your mountain from a dragon and somehow survived it, what are you going to do next?” She asked in her best impression of an American football announcer.

The king laughed, pulling Bella even tighter against him, “I am going to kiss you, you ridiculous hobbit, that’s what I am going to do.”

“That is _such_ a good answer.” Bella stood on her tiptoes, meeting him halfway, even as the company (Fili and Kili) groaned their disgust behind her back.

She still had so much to worry about; the Arkenstone that she had managed to hide in her back when no one was looking, the goldsickness that had already begun to rear it’s ugly head, the _darkness_ that Smaug had spoken of…

But for the moment Thorin was holding her, none of the company had been killed, and the dragon was dead, and she could take a moment to just enjoy the fact that she was still alive enough to kiss the king.

“If everyone only gets one miracle in their entire life…” Bella mumbled once Thorin let her up for air, “this can be mine.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again thank you, so, so, so much for giving this a read <3   
> (The Chapter title is from Lying To The Mirror by Gabrielle Aplin)
> 
> As always, find me on Tumblr - [HERE](http://stilesinerebor.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Translations:  
> "Hobbit" (Irish)
> 
> “Ar do chlé!” - On your left!  
> Luaidhe air ar shiúl ó ann! - Lead him away from there!  
> Is iad na cinn eile síos an bealach! - The others are down that way!  
> Arís! - Again!


	8. Come On (Don't Leave Me Like This)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goldsickness is a bitch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The playlist for this fic can be found on 8tracks! [HERE](http://8tracks.com/stilesinerebor/can-you-see-the-stars) , featuring Taylor Swift, Gabrielle Aplin, and of course, Ed Sheeran. 
> 
> (I personally recommend that you listen to Haunted by Taylor Swift on repeat for the entirety of this chapter) (That may be what I did while I was writing it)

The fact that Bella did not get immediately spirited back home meant one of two things, either she had to be asleep for it to work (in which case she was just going to have to stay away forever), or her work in Arda was not yet finished.

She was putting her money on a combination of the two, truth be told.

“You know,” she told Frodo the next afternoon, seated in the throne room over lunch as Fili very enthusiastically recounted the entire thing with the dragon, well, the parts he had been there for. No one knew exactly what went on between Bella and Smaug before they arrived and she planned to keep it that way. The fact that Smaug knew so much about her was troubling but him knowing things that she _didn’t_ was downright terrifying and more than a little frustrating, “it’s actually a very good thing that Smaug escaped the mountain first.” The company made noises of protest and Bella held up a pacifying hand, “No, no, think about it; how would we have gotten the dead dragon out of here?”

That gave them pause enough that Bella started to laugh, turning to catch Thorin’s reaction and faltering when he wasn’t there. Frodo followed her gaze, his little face slipping into a frown. “Where’s Uncle Thorin?”

“Good question.” Bella said, carefully sliding Frodo from her lap to Dori’s, “Make him eat his greens when you make Ori, would you?” The old dwarf nodded as Ori and Frodo both groaned their displeasure.

“He went that way, lass.” Dwalin said, jerking his thumb behind him and Bella’s heart sank.

The only thing in _that_ direction was the treasure hoard. “Thank you, Dwalin.” She managed to say, picking her way around the rest of the company, sprawled together and eating happily, completely unaware of their hobbit’s turmoil or their king’s impending madness.

Except, maybe Balin who was giving Bella a look of barely veiled apprehension. She nodded back. “I’d like to have a word with you...later.” She told him quietly.

“Aye, lass, we have much to discuss.”

Bella continued on her way, hopping over rubble and absently kicking coins from her path, wincing at the clamour they made.

Thorin was exactly where Bella thought he would be and it almost made her sick. “You barely ate a thing.” She said, wrapping her arms around herself; the air around them was cold and stale but it was absolutely nothing compared to the Scary Thing, the frigid _something_ in the king eyes.

“We must find the Arkenstone.” He said, and Bella almost scoffed. First of all, he wasn’t going to find it in there, the stupid thing was sitting at the bottom of her bag, wrapped in old, torn clothes and waiting for her to figure out what she was going to do with it. Secondly, _priorities_ , Thorin.

“You _must_ eat a good meal, take a very long bath, get a good night’s sleep, and then begin moving forward.” Bella said, stepping closer to him and reaching up to drag her pointer finger across his cheek. It came away from his skin black as night with grime and soot. She was sure that she did not look much better but that wasn't her point. “You have a kingdom to rebuild, trade routs to reset. People need to know that Erebor is _back_ and that the grandson of Thror is on the throne ready to pick up where they left off. And you cannot do any of that if you are too busy digging around in a pile of cursed gold.” As Bella finished speaking Thorin’s hands settled on her shoulders and when she looked up the Scary Thing was gone from his eyes.

It was replaced with a glimmer of genuine fear, “Belladonna, I fear that you have too much faith in me.”

“I do not.” Bella replied, “I read somewhere that there is nothing more treacherous than believing that a person is more than a person.” She leaned up, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth, his beard rough against her lips as she whispered, “I will not make that error. You are an amazing man, Thorin Oakenshield, but you are just a man. You will make mistakes and those mistakes will cost you dearly, more than likely, but they are expected and they are unavoidable. Remember that.”

His arms came around her, crushing her into him. He smelled of sweat and smoke and gold but Bella still tucked her face into his shoulder and let him hold her. “Why do I feel like you know something I do not?”

“Because I normally do.” She replied with a short burst of laughter. “Now,” she pulled away, slapping at his chest, “go take a bath, you reek.”

Things, unfortunately, did not improve from there. When Bella had been writing the series, Thorin’s goldsickness had always been the hardest part for her to do. She had _dragged ass_ on it; would have cut it completely if she felt that it could be cut.

Seeing it was even worse than writing or reading it. Over the next week things got worse and worse until Thorin wasn’t sleeping, was barely eating… all he did was shout at them and search for the goddamn Arkenstone.

Speaking of, Bella still had no idea what she was going to do about stupid thing. Destroying it seemed the obvious idea, but then Thorin would likely never give up trying to find it.

The king needed to see it and _overcome_ it.

Bella chewed at the inside of her bottom lip, her hands curled in her lap. She had moved the stone into her pocket, ready to present it to Thorin whenever she felt it was time. If she ever felt that it was time.

She dropped her head into her hands, the heels of her palms pressing tightly over her mouth while her fingers dug into her closed eyes. She didn’t know what she should do; she didn’t know what she _could_ do. She couldn’t simply fight his battles for him, though she would like to.

But she also couldn’t give him the Arkenstone and watch it drive him madder than he already was. The flickers of the Thorin she knew under the Thorin being controlled by the gold- a mixture of the dragon’s curse and the natural sickness that plagued all of Durin’s line- were coming farther and farther apart. He hadn’t looked at her warmly in days.

Bella couldn’t hold back the sob that built in her throat. She was _lying_ ; to herself, and to Thorin, she had been since she arrived in Arda and Smaug was right about so many things (the darkness, Thorin and the arkenstone,) but above all he had been right about Bella being a _terrible_ liar.

“Bella!”

Fili appeared around the corner so suddenly that Bella didn’t have time to compose herself. She looked up, tears clinging to her eyelashes and her lip trembling even with her teeth clamped into it, and the prince’s expression _dropped_.

“Bella,” he crossed to her in two long strides, wrapping an arm around her back and letting her lean into him, “what is it?”

Bella shook her head, wiping at her eyes, “It’s nothing.” She lied, trying to smile, “What has got you so excited?”

But Fili wouldn’t let it drop, “It’s Uncle, isn’t it?” Bella remained silent but Fili must have read something in her face because he sighed, pulling her in close and tucking her head under his chin. “I know.” He admitted, “We all feel the tug of the gold, it’s in our nature, especially those of us who come from Durin’s line. But uncle is…”

“He is _consumed._ ” Bella whispered, brokenly, “He is consumed by his lust for the gold and nothing can bring him back from it.”

“We will figure something out.” Fili said, “We are hoping that once we find the stone he will come out of it but-”

“But you don’t believe it.” She finished for him, the stone seemingly growing heavier in her pocket. She cleared her throat and sat up. “Okay, so really, what had you barreling up here?”

“Hm?” Fili asked, pulling the sleeve of his tunic over his hand and rubbing it over Bella’s cheeks, gently removing the last traces of her tears, “Oh, the elves have returned from the north. But they won’t talk to Thorin and have decided you’re the next best thing.”

“If they talk to Thorin we may have a war on our hands before we even finish cleaning the dragon dung out of the entranceway.” Bella mumbled as the prince stood and extended a hand. She let him pull her up, and then brushed the dust from her pants, “Well, I suppose Kili is thrilled.”

“He is in the process of glaring the blonde elf to death.” Fili replied dryly and, unbelievably, Bella started to laugh.

“That blonde elf is the reason that we are all still breathing, so perhaps a little less jealousy.” She said.

 

Tauriel and Legolas were looking worse for the wear, with dirt on their faces and their hair unbound and hanging limply across their faces and shoulders. Bella was immediately worried, even as Tauriel smiled gently and pulled a babbling Frodo into her lap.

Bella looked both ways before entering the chamber; wary of possibly having to deal with Thorin without time to brace or collect herself -she was sure that her eyes were still red, and her nose was definitely still stuffy. “Tauriel.” She said once she decided that the cost was clear. “Legolas.” She tried to summon a smile, the realization that she was actively avoiding Thorin sucking every ounce of good humor from her in a second.

“Bella.” Tauriel said back warmly at the same time that Legolas nodded stiffly with a muttered, “Miss. Baggins.”

“Fili tells me you bring news from the north?” She stepped further into the chamber, lifting the heavy, dwarven skirt that Dori had scrounged up for her since the clothes she had borrowed from the Men of Laketown were well and truly done for. “I will assume that it is not good news.”

Tauriel shook her head, tucking a lock of loose hair behind one delicately pointed ear. “Normally this would be a matter that we would bring to the king but…”

“We have spoken to King Bard of Dale.” Legolas said, his expression stony and Bella’s heart clenched.

“I have as well.” Bella admitted, and she didn’t miss the sharp intake of breath from the gathered company; Kili, Fili, Balin, Oin, Gloin, Bofur, and Nori. “I have spoken to Bard and while I have no provisions to offer I did bring gold to them, so they could purchase some elsewhere… Thorin does not know, and I would like it to _stay_ that way for the time being.” She said very pointedly.

“That was a foolish thing, lass, if the king finds out-” Balin started, but Bella shook her head.

“The coins I brought them are a part of my share of the treasure.” She said, “I will spend them how I please, and if my prerogative is to prevent _war_ from befalling Erebor so soon after it’s reclamation-”

“I am afraid there is no way to prevent a war.” Tauriel spoke up, her voice heavy and her shoulders slumping even as she tightened her arms around a suddenly silent Frodo. “Orcs march on Erebor. Lead by Azog the Defiler.””

Bella felt light headed and she reached out, grabbing hold of Fili’s arm to keep herself upright. “Orcs.” She whispered, “Orcs are coming _here_?” At the elves’ nod she couldn’t keep in the whimper that escaped her, “How long do we have?” She asked, and it was the most surreal thing to happen to her since arriving in Arda.

During the entire journey she had no choice but to stay and fight. It wasn’t an option to run away. _Now it was._ She could, conceivably, run and take Frodo with her, far, far away from orcs and dwarves and battles and death.

This time it was her _choice_ to stay and fight, her choice to plant her feet in and refuse to be moved even though she wasn’t a dwarf, or a warrior, or even a proper hobbit… she was a writer. She was a _normal_ woman from the _normal_ world where orcs and dragons were nothing more than stories used to scare children. She couldn’t even properly use a sword.

But here she was, planning for a war that would reach them in less than a week, all behind the king’s back while he skulked about in the treasure hoard like another, smaller dragon.

She sat at a table and poured over maps with Balin and Dwalin, practiced her sword technique with Balin, took bow lessons from Kili, and met with Bard in secret. She ran herself ragged to the point where she… didn’t even notice Thorin coming up behind her.

“What is that?” He demanded, appearing over her shoulder and nearly startling Bella into an early grave.

She’d been crying again, as she’d been wont to do whenever she’d had a moment alone in the passing days and she panicked about hiding her tears for a split second before she realized with a sinking stomach that he probably wouldn’t realize they were there anyways. “What is what?” She asked, her voice choked as she slowly raised her head to look at him.

He was pale and gaunt from not enough sunlight and food, with that scary, manic thing in his eyes that made Bella feel sick and hopeless. “In your hand.”

“Nothing.” Bella swallowed thickly around the bile rising in her throat; it was an acorn that she’d picked in Beorn’s garden. She’d forgotten she had it, actually, but in her haste to rehide the Arkenstone earlier (she’d taken to glaring at it like that would solve her problems), she’d stumbled across it in the bottom of her pack. Her fingers closed around the acorn, almost desperate to keep that one thing separate and unsullied by the king madness. “It’s nothing.”

“ _Show me_.” Thorin hissed and for just a moment, one terrifying, horrible moment Bella was afraid that he would hurt her.

She’d made a promise to herself when she was younger to never, ever stay in a relationship where she feared she would get hit. That was it, the last straw, and it broke her heart and her resolve.

“I picked up an acorn in Beorn’s garden.” She said, holding it between two shaking fingers. “I wanted something that I could look at and remember…” She shook her head, reaching out and grabbing the king’s hand. She dropped the acorn into it and moved away. “But I don’t want to remember anymore.”  She couldn’t look at him, wouldn’t look at him.

She didn’t know if he was even registering what she was saying and honestly, she didn’t want to know. “When this is all over, when everything is settled, I am taking Frodo and I am returning home. I was foolish to ever think that this would work.”

“Belladonna-” Thorin started, and Bella almost looked at him; he hadn’t used her full name since the sickness hit. Maybe it was a sign that he was breaking out of it, maybe…

“Bella, there are-” Dwalin froze the second he saw Thorin and Bella bit back a swear, hoping that the king hadn’t noticed that his captain was coming to _her_ , “Thorin.” He wallowed, “I thought you were down in the treasure hoard.”

“I was.” Thorin replied, “But I thought I would have a conversation with my hobbit; it seems she is quite popular today.” He laid a hand on Bella’s shoulder and it sent unpleasant shivers down her spine and sprung fresh tears to her eyes.

It shouldn’t be like this.

“What is the problem, Dwalin?” Bella asked, impressed at the control she had over her own voice; it didn’t shake. “Have Fili and Kili collapsed a hallway again?” That had happened twice in the past two days as they patrolled the halls for any weakness that could pass as a way in should the orcs get close enough for it to be a problem.

They were still alone in their fight, though Balin had sent word to Dain, Bella had been speaking with Bard, and Tauriel and Legolas had left to possibly gain just a little bit of help from Thranduil.

Dwalin looked from Bella to Thorin and back again, clearly uncomfortable relaying information in front of his ill king, but it was too late for that. “There are...elves...at our gate.”

Thorin’s hand tightened around Bella’s arm almost to the point of pain. “Elves?” He asked, darkly.

“Are Legolas and Tauriel with them?” She asked quickly, before Thorin could speak again or Dwalin could egg him on.

“No.” Dwalin didn’t look happy, “It is just the king and his guard.”

And then Thorin was gone in a wave of his cape, nearly flying down the hall in his anger.

“Dwalin,” Bella sighed, watching him go, “next time will you just _lie_?”

The dwarf grunted, “I’ve never lied to him.”

“Well, _start_.” Bella said very seriously. “We should probably go after him before he gets us stuck in two wars.”

“Aye.”

 

The meeting with Thranduil (if it could even be called a meeting since Thorin stood on the battlements and screamed at the elf) went as well as can be expected, with Thorin making an ass of himself and Bella and Balin standing behind him and very frantically mouthing, “I’m sorry!” Complete with a lot of flailing hand motions.

There was no way they were avoiding war with the elves after the filth that fell from Thorin’s mouth. She didn’t understand the majority of the things that were said, but she did recognize a few of the words and absolutely none of them would make for polite conversation with _Charles Manson_ let alone someone you were trying to convince not to kill you.

Watching the dwarves prepare for the war in question; now the one that more than likely be against the orcs _and_ the elves, and probably the Men, was one of the worst things Bella had ever witnessed. She stood off to the side, Frodo clutched to her chest as he hid his face in her shoulder, almost as unhappy with the proceedings as she was.  

Kili, Fili, and Ori were the worst. It was like watching children playing soldiers only they were really about to go to war.

“Miss. Baggins.” Thorin called from the end of the hall, “Come here. Bombur, take Frodo.”

“But-” Bella tried to argue but Bombur was already pulling Frodo from her arms, urging her forward gently.

“He’s already in a mood, lass, just go see what he wants.”

So she went. She didn’t like it, but she went.

Thorin was dressed in armor, and any other time Bella probably would have thought he looked _dashing_ , but right then it just made her stomach clench. There was something in his hands, something flowy that shone like stars in his hands.

“You are going to need this.” The king said, holding the something, the shirt, out to her, “Put it on.” Bella only raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms over her chest. “It is silver steel. No blade of any make will be able to pierce it.”

“So why don’t you wear it?” She asked, finally. “I have been told that I am not to go into battle.” And oh, that had not been a pleasant conversation with Balin. She’d stood in their ranks, taken on Azog The Defiler, gained the favor of Beorn The skinchanger, fought spiders in the Mirkwood, gotten them all out of Thranduil’s kingdom, killed three orcs, and fought a _dragon_ , but now, suddenly, when it really counted she was being made to stay behind like some willowy princess.

They should have let Smaug live to complete the picture.

“You are not a warrior,” Thorin said, “you are a hobbit. And you will stay here where it is _safe_ , Bella, do you understand me?” 

“You are not my keeper!” Bella tried to keep her voice down, though she really, really wanted to shout at him and maybe kick him a few times, just to get her point across.

“I am your king-” He started, but Bella cut him off.

“I said you _could_ be.” She pointed out, and she almost told him, in her anger, that at this point he was not her _anything_. “Not that you were.”

Something in his expression broke and for just a moment Bella glimped the Thorin Oakenshield she had fallen in love with. “Please.” He said softly. “I need you safe. You are the greatest treasure in this mountain. You and Frodo are and I-”

Bella took the shirt. She didn’t ask him if she was a greater treasure, to him, than the Arkenstone. Partly because she didn’t want that glimmer of him to go away, but mostly because she didn’t want to know the answer. “I am going to look absurd.” She told him.

“There is a smaller one, but Bombur is giving it to Frodo as we speak.” Thorin said, and he kept looking at her expectantly until she sighed and pulled the shirt over her head.

It was much too large, she could have worn it as a dress had she chosen to. But it pleased Thorin, and even though she was thoroughly terrified of the man he had become, he was still the man that she loved under the sickness. And so few things made him smile like that, even before the sickness.

“I look like a little girl playing dress up.” Bella said, holding out her arms to emphasize the size of the shirt.

“You look lovely. Please keep it on, it is a gift.” He ducked his head, pressing his forehead against hers in a way that was far less sweet than it was a week ago. “Because I… I fear that we have been betrayed.”

Bella wasn’t sure she liked the use of the word ‘we’ there, especially since there was apparently a queen in Erebor and she was the only woman there sleeping with a king, as far as she knew, but she let it slide. “What do you mean?” She asked, because _she_ had betrayed him, more times than she could count though every time had been for his own good.

“The Arkenstone.” He hissed, and Bella’s blood froze, surely he didn’t know...he had just given her priceless metal to protect her he couldn’t know it was her, “One of them has taken it.” And that was so, so much worse than him discovering it had been her. Bella looked towards the end of the hall where Kili was laughing heartily at something Nori said while Bofur linked arms with Fili and whispered something more than likely dirty that had the older prince in stitches a moment later.

“Thorin…” She said softly, “Thorin no one has betrayed you. Perhaps the stone was gone long before we arrived. Smaug could have hidden it, or destroyed it, or _eaten_ it-”

“No.” Thorin barked, “No, no it is here. One of them has taken it.”

“The quest is over.” She said, trying to placate him, “You have your mountain, your _home_ … why isn’t that enough?” She asked. She wanted to reach out and touch him, but she wasn’t sure how much good that would do so she fisted her hands in the mithril shirt and didn’t move.

“I have been betrayed and-”

“Thorin!” Bella spoke a little louder than she intended to, “You want to talk about betrayal? You made a promise to the Men of Laketown, now the Men of Dale, and also to Thranduil. The latter of which, may I remind you, you made to _save Frodo’s life_.” Not that she believed for one moment that Tauriel would ever let any harm come to her nephew, but that is not her point and they did not know that at the time. “Is this rock and the rest of this treasure worth more than your honor? Than _our_ honor?” Referring to them as a unit seemed to have worked well in the past. “I was there too, I _vouched_ for you, Thorin.”

“And I appreciate that more than you could ever know. But the treasure in this mountain belongs to the dwarves and not to Men or elves.” The Scary Thing came back with a vengeance and Bella would have stepped back had there not been a window behind her. “I will not part with a single coin.”

Bella swallowed harshly against the urge to be sick as she nodded. That was not the Thorin Oakenshield she had fallen in love with.

And so, while it broke what was left of her heart, he had to betray him one more time. What would probably be the last time since after he found out, and he _would_ find out, he would never trust her again.

But at least he would alive.

In the grand scheme of things, repelling down the wall was not the most death defying stunt that Bella had done; but it was the first one where nothing was actively trying to kill her, except perhaps her own guilt, but she felt brave for doing it, as it was something she never would have done before her adventure.

Bofur was covering for her, hiding the rope and waiting close by for her return. She didn’t tell him why she was leaving the mountain and he didn’t ask.

As soon as her feet touched the ground she was running, climbing over the head of the statute fro the entrance with a speed she didn’t know she possessed and then continuing on towards the lights of Dale.

Like Peter Pan running towards the second star.

Sneaking into the city was remarkably easy and she was going to have to have words with Bard about his security because _really?_ But when she caught sight of him all thoughts of yelling left her mind because of who he was talking to.

“ _Gandalf!_ ” She shouted, finally making herself known and dodging around surprised guards a they finally realized she was there. “Gandalf, where have you _been_?”

The old wizard turned, his face breaking out into a smile as Bella crashed into him. She needed a hug, propriety be damned. “Belladonna Baggins.” He chuckled, stooping to wrap her up in the best hug she’d gotten since Thorin went cuckoo for cocoa puffs. “How long have you been hiding there?”

“Long enough.” Bella pulled away, turning to Bard, “If you think you’re going to smoke them out or that they will surrender they will _not._ I can tell you that right now. Thorin is sick, he will not listen to reason he-”

“And yet,” said the very unwelcome voice of the elf who used her nephew against her, “you still wear his bead in your hair.”

Bella reached up instinctively, to the single braid hanging in the mass of her hair; the rest of it was down around her shoulders as she hadn’t been planning on venturing into Dale that night. “He is not himself.” She said, “That does not mean that I do not care for the person he really is.” She shook her head, stepping into the tent where the elven king sat and pulling the bundle from her pocket before she could chicken out. “I came to bring you this.” And she unwrapped the Arkenstone.

The effect was instantaneous; Thranduil rose to his feet, Bard gasped, and Gandalf whispered “Belladonna, tell me that you _did not_ take the Arkenstone...”

“I had no choice.” She told Gandalf. “There are orcs coming, and we cannot take them on our own. We need the help.” She nodded towards the stone, “Keep it, destroy it, I do not care what you do with it just, please, _help us_.”

“How did you…? Why did you…?” Bard asked. “You owe us no loyalty.”

“I took it as my share of the treasure.” She said, her stomach sinking as she spoke, “And I did not do it for you. I… I know that dwarves can be obstinate. And pigheaded. And difficult. And suspicious and secretive, with the _worst_ manners you can possibly imagine. But they are also brave and kind, and loyal to a fault. I've grown to love them all very dearly and I _need_ to save them. Anything else is not an option so please, will you help me do that?” She looked from face to face, and while Thranduil looked unmoved, Bard was staring at her like he’d never quite seen her before.

“I thought you were lying,” he said, “when you said that you and Thorin were to be wed but -”

“I was lying.” Bella said quickly, “I was lying through my teeth.”

“But you _do_ love him.” Bard pointed out.

“That much is true.” Unbelievably true, “But in the midst of this sickness Thorin values this stone above all else and he...he will never forgive me for this.” She paused, the full weight of that hitting her all at once. Thorin would _never_ forgive her. Even if he somehow managed to break free of the sickness that gripped him this was such a betrayal to him. What she was doing was literally unforgivable. And she was going to do it anyways. “This… Thorin will do absolutely anything to gain it back.” She finished softly, “Including giving you the gold and gems you are owed.”

Bella felt numb as she left, sans Arkenstone and with Gandalf at her side. She didn’t register him speaking until he was obviously awaiting a reply, “I’m sorry, what?”

“I said that you need to rest up tonight and get as far away from here as you can come morning. Take Frodo and go.”

“What? I can’t _go_.” Though the idea of getting Frodo far, far away sounded like an excellent one, “I am the fourteenth member of this company, I can not leave them now, not when-”

“There is no company,” Gandalf hissed, “Not anymore. Not with Thorin as sick as he is. I cannot even imagine what he is going to do when he figures out what you’ve done here tonight.”

“I am not afraid of Thorin Oakenshield.” Bella rolled her eyes, though she was certainly fearing the expression on his face when he found out. Truly, she would not have ventured back into the mountain at all had it not been for Frodo.

“You should be.” Gandalf warned her, “No matter how much you love him or how much he loved you, whether or not you wear his bead in your hair, Belladonna Baggins, dragonsickness affects all who come near this mountain.” He paused, regarding her, “Well, almost all.”

“What use do I have for gold?” She asked, quietly, “This is not my world, Gandalf.”

“Ah, yes… The Lady Galadriel says you are doing swimmingly, by the way.”

Bella’s heart lept, “You spoke to her? Did she say-”

“She did not say anything other than the fact that she is very proud of your progress.” Gandalf pat her shoulder, “You are on the right path. But I think at this point the path should point away.”

“You should know by now that’s never going to happen.”

 

The next morning there was an army of elves at Erebor’s front door. Bella followed the dwarves to the gate, nodding sadly at the questioning look from Bofur. Frodo had been spirited out of the mountain already by way of Gandalf. The only thing keeping Bella herself there was the need to explain herself to the company, even if Thorin would not listen maybe the others may.

Before anyone had even started speaking, however, Thorin had already fired an arrow at Thranduil’s face. And Bella wasn’t saything that she had never wanted to shoot an arrow at Thranduil’s face, but she was saying that it was _maybe_ not the best time to give into that urge.

Especially as the entire army raised their bows to the dwarves next; they all ducked down and Bella rolled her eyes, standing tall next to Thorin, confident that the elves would not shoot her. It was the only thing she was confident about.

Thranduil called his army off just as quickly however, though Thorin still aimed with his bow, and Bella raised a hand to his arm, urging him to lower his weapon. “We are but fourteen against an army,” she said softly, while he still heeded her words, “perhaps we should listen?”

“We have come to tell you,” Thranduil said, “that payment of your debt has been offered and accepted.”

Bella dropped her hand, bracing herself for what was to come. “I gave you nothing!” Thorin shouted.

“And yet,” Bard said, carefully pulling the Arkenstone from his pocket. “We have this.”

Bella closed her eyes so she would not have to see the expression on the dwarves’ faces, but she heard their gasps and their cries, felt the way that Thorin tensed beside her and how Bofur grabbed onto the back of her shirt and tugged, very clearly asking if she had done that. If she was the reason their “enemies” had the Arkenstone.

And she was.

“Thieves!” Kili cried and Bella’s heart broke. They were not the thieves, she was.

“The king may have it _and_ our good will if he only delivers on his promise.” Bard assured them.

“This is a lie!” Thorin called, “A trick! The stone lies inside the mountain it must-”

Bella finally opened her eyes, “But it does not.” her voice was barely a choked whisper as her eyes filled with tears, “The stone is real.” Deep breath, “I gave it to them.”

An _uproar_.

“You?” Thorin gasped, grabbing hold of her arm and Bella could barely make herself look at him.

“I had to.” She said, raising a shaking hand to his face; he didn’t push her away, “Don’t you see I had to?”

“You would steal from me?” He asked, brokenly, nearly crying himself and Bella lowered her head with a sob.

“I…I took at is my share of the treasure... I did not _want_ to.” She said, quickly, when Thorin opened his mouth again, “You must believe me, I never wanted to hurt you. But you would not listen, and there are _orcs_ coming, we cannot afford a war with Men, elves, _and_ orcs. We will not survive it.” She swallowed, “I found the Arkenstone when I first faced Smaug. And originally I was just looking for the right moment to give it to you. But then you just… you got _sicker_ and _sicker_. Giving you the stone wouldn’t have fixed that.” She looked at him pleadingly, “So I did what I had to do because I’d rather have you hating me while alive rather than watching you die loving me.”

“Loving you?” Thorin asked, and Bella dropped her hand and actually backed up at the hatred in his voice, “How could I ever love such a thieving rat?”

Smaug’s words came back to Bella, unbidden, _“You love him and he is **using you**. You are nothing to him, a warm body, a means to an end. He wants the Arkenstone more than he ever wanted you! What did he offer you in return? A share of the treasure? His **heart** perhaps? As if it was his to give; dwarves have one true love, little writer and it is **gold**.”_

The dragon had been right. “I was going to give it to you.” She managed to say, through her hurt, “A hundred times but-”

“But _what_?” Thorin hissed.

“But you’ve changed!” She shrieked, the dam finally breaking as the Company hovered awkwardly, stuck between a rock and a hardplace; their king, or the woman who had tried to lead them in his stead? “The Thorin I left the Shire with never would have gone back on his word! He never would have values some stupid rock over his kin! He never would have doubted their loyalty…” She paused, taking a deep breath as the tears finally spilled from her eyes. “The Thorin I fell in love with was never so cruel.” She hissed, “He was many things; obstinate, pig headed, a total arse at times, but he would never throw someone’s love back in their face.”

“Do not talk to me of loyalty, _thief._ ” And he sounded so much like Smaug himself then that Bella wanted to scream.

“I am a _writer._ ” Bella hissed, “And the story of us is looking more and more like a tragedy.”

Thorin reached for her and Bella flinched away, fully expecting to be hit for her insolence, as that was how far her relationship with the king had fallen in a few short days. “Get rid of her.” He said, coming short of actually touching her. “Throw her from the ramparts for all I care.”

That hurt more than any slap. “I will leave.” She said, though it killed her, “No need for theatrics.” Out of the corner of her eye she caught the shine of Thorin’s bead in her hair and she reached for it then, one last petty attempt to gain a reaction besides flat anger from the sick king. “And you can have this back.” She pulled it from her braid almost savagely, wincing as she did, and threw the thing at his face. _“I do not want it._ ”

For a moment, just a moment, the king looked like he felt _something_ , but that was quickly replaced by the same Scary Thing that had resided there for weeks, “Leave.” He growled.

Behind Thorin, a few of the dwarves moved forward, like they were going to follow her, and she shook her head minutely. They needed to stay with Thorin, he needed all the help he could get.

“You are making a poor first impression as King Under The Mountain, Thorin, son of Thrain.” Gandalf announced and Bella whirled around, she had not even noticed he had arrived.

Bofur ushered her away with his hand, his face set and grim, as were the rest of the dwarves’, all of whom were looking at her.

‘ _Take care of him_ ,’ she mouthed at them, pointing at Thorin as she slowly made her way towards the stairs, ‘ _I love you!_ ’

And oh, she did. She was going to miss them all so terribly. New tears sprung to her eyes at the thought of never seeing them again.

“Will you have peace?” Bard called from below them around the time Bella reached the bottom of the gate. “Or war?”

Bella stopped breathing, even as a raven soared through the air, and she could almost see the small, horrible smile that spread across Thorin’s face as he replied, “I will have... _war._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!   
> (And to the lovely person who commented about being worried last chapter even though it ended nicely... SORRY.)
> 
> Chapter title from Taylor Swift's "Haunted" because it's such a Bagginshield during goldsickness song man...


	9. Towards The Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everything hits the fan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter before the epilogue and I'm tearing up a little pit posting it tbh
> 
> Thank you to everyone who came on this crazy ride with me while it was happening, as well as those of you who aren't going to read it until I mark it complete.  
> I love every single one of you <3 A lot. Like SO much love.

There was a moment, just one single, peaceful moment, when Bella hovered on the edge of sleeping and waking, that she got to just forget. She could still have been home in Bristol for all she knew, or maybe wrapped in Thorin’s arms in Laketown. Sometime before the dragon and before the gold, before she did what she had to do and cost herself his trust in the process.

And with a groan she was up, rolling onto her back and staring morosely at the ceiling of her tent. So much for that.

“Belladonna?” Tauriel poked her head in, “You should come see this.”

Bella tossed aside her thin blanket and scrambled to her feet, grabbing the discarded Sting and shoving it into her belt. She probably looked a mess but he couldn’t bring herself to care as she left the tent, looking around for Frodo, though she knew that he had probably been spirited away with Bard’s children the second he woke.

“Your nephew is with Sigrid and Tilda.” Tauriel confirmed Bella’s suspicions, “He was very reluctant to leave your side in case you started crying again.” She spoke casually but Bella was adept at reading closer into things after traveling with her dwarves for so long. Tauriel was worried.

“I thought he was asleep.” Bella admitted, “I didn’t want him to see that.”

“It is good for children to learn that it is alright for them to cry when something hurts them.” Tauriel’s hand settled on Bella’s shoulder, “And you have been hurt more than some of the strongest among us could bear, and yet you are still going. That is true strength, Belladonna, and a few tears will not sully that strength, but make it stronger.”

Bella was going to cry again, “Thank you, Tauriel.” She sighed, trying to smile, “Now, what is it that I want to see?”

“The army of Dain Ironfoot has arrived.” Gandalf answered, coming up behind Bella and then she saw it. An army of dwarves in front of Erebor, armed and ready to go to war whenever the fancy struck him.

“He does not look happy…” Bella noted. “Who is he?”

“Thorin’s cousin.” Gandalf winced, “And I have always found Thorin to be the more reasonable one.”

Bella’s stomach sank. “That is terrifying, Gandalf.” Because somehow in the last twenty four hours she had gone from “I am not scared of Thorin Oakenshield” to “Nothing scares me more than Thorin Oakenshield.” and now to find that he has an even less reasonable cousin? Terrifying.

Dain was stocky dwarf with a prosthetic foot and a mohawked helm to accent his fire red hair. He rode in on a _pig_ , and promptly shouted at the lot of gathered elves and humans (and one fake hobbit), “Good mornin'! How are we all? I have a wee proposition, if ye wouldn't mind giving me a few moments of yer time. Would ye consider... ** _JUST SODDING OFF?!”_** and had things been a little different Bella would have marched right up to him and demanded that he be her new best friend.

Gandalf stepped forward, and for reason unbeknownst to anyone, least of all Bella, she stepped with him. “Dain Ironfoot.” Gandalf greeted him, inclining his head.

“Gandalf the Grey.” Dain said back, “Ye better call off yer elves or I’ll be waterin’ the ground with their blood.”

“I hope it will not come to that.” Bella spoke, “If you would just _listen_ -”

“And who is this lil wisp of a lass?” Dain interrupted her, “Why, a strong breeze would blow ye over!”

“This is Belladonna Baggins, hobbit from the Shire, and burglar to the company of Thorin Oakenshield, she even wears his-” Bella’s elbow slammed into Gandalf’s stomach.

“I don’t.” She mumbled, “I threw it at him up on the battlements.”

“Threw _what_ at _who_?” Dain asked.

“I… Thorin gave me a bead because we were… together… and then things happened and I kind of threw it at his face.” She winced. “It was stupid and petty but it all leads up to the fact that I no longer wear Thorin Oakenshield’s bead. But I am still the acting burglar of his company, I suppose…” She trailed off. “The point of the matter here is that Thorin is _sick_. The treasure hoard in Erebor was cursed by Smaug and Thorin is not seeing sense. There are _orcs_ coming. You must stand down and -”

“I will not stand down before any Elf! Especially not this faithless woodland sprite!” Dain called, motioning to Thranduil, “He wishes nothing but ill upon my people! If he chooses to stand between me and my kin, I'll split his pretty head open!” The dwarves, up in Erebor, cheered and Bella turned her mightest glare upon them.

Even from so far away Kili, Fili, and Ori all promptly shut their mouths.

Thranduil, ever the helpful one, decided to very smugly declare, “He’s clearly as mad as his cousin.”

Dain opened his mouth, presumably to call his troops into action, and Bella raised both her hands. “Wait, wait, wait. While I am not at all averse to handing Thranduil his ass, war is not the answer. Please, you have to listen to me. Orcs are _coming_ , dear friends of mine have seen it with their own eyes, they are coming, and they are coming fast and in great numbers. We cannot afford to be at each other’s throats. Every loss on either side will just make us weaker against the real enemy, the one who will crush them all in their path without a second thought.”

Silence rang as Bella finished speaking, the kind of silence where you could have heard a pin drop. Bella’s heart beat in her ears like a drum and bile rose up in her throat while she waited for Dain’s verdict. Would he have peace or war?

As it turns out, the choice was made for him by the ferocious, blood curdling roar that echoed through the mountains.

“What is _that_?” Bella hissed, her hand flying to Sting at her side. “Gandalf, I am getting really tired of surprises.”

“You and I both.” The wizard replied, “And that was a _wereworm_.”

The worms burst from the sides of mountains, monstrous in the way that the creature designers for _Tremors_ could only dream of. The ground shook beneath Bella’s feet and she fought to keep her balance, grabbing onto the hem of Gandalf’s robe with her free hand.

The orcs had arrived.

“Frodo.” She gasped, “Where is Frodo?”

“In Dale with Bard and his children. I have the king’s personal assurance that your nephew will be protected like he was one of his own.”

Oddly enough, that didn’t make Bella feel any better but she nodded, fully aware that the best way to protect Frodo was to take out as many orcs as possible before they reached the city.

“The hoards of hell are upon us!” Dain shouted, spurring his troops into action.

Bella found she quite agreed with him as orcs streamed from the worm’s holes, hundreds and hundreds of them, bloodthirsty and humongous, wielding axes and hammers and swords.

“We’re so boned.” She whispered, the realization hitting her.There was almost no way they were getting out of this alive.

Dwarves and orcs collided and it was then that Bella noticed two things; One: The elves made no move to join the battle; Two: neither did the dwarves of Erebor.

“Will the elves not fight?” She asked, frantically, while her eyes never strayed from the gate. Fili seemed to be yelling something that Thorin was ignoring as he yelled back. No one made a move to leave the gate.

Gandalf went off then, yelling for Thranduil, while Bella watched the king, her stomach sinking even further than she thought possible. Were they not going to fight? Was Thorin really going to send his cousin to die for him?

The elves finally moved, Tauriel and Legolas squeezing Bella’s shoulders on their way past as she called out to them, wishing them luck, though it was drowned out in the noises of battle.

She had thought she had known what to expect, from their tussles with the orcs on the road, but like Thorin on the carrock she had never been so wrong in all her life.

Everywhere she looked there was action, blood. Someone was dying, be it dwarf, elf, or, more usually, orc. The clanging of metal on metal was almost deafening and Bella raised her hands to cover her ears against it. She fell to her knees, hiding her face away from the carnage and trying to take deep, calming breaths. She could not afford to panic, not then, not on an actual battlefield.

This time there was no Thorin to pull her out of it. She had to be her own anchor, she had to get back up and fight.

“ _Bella_!” Gandalf’s fingers closed around her shoulders, “Bella they are sending forces to Dale, we must go.”

Dale...Bella blinked hazily up at the wizard, her breath still coming in sharp, painful gasps while she tried to concentrate on what he was saying. Orcs were...attacking dale…

“ _Frodo_.” She gasped, pushing to her feet and starting to run, leaving Gandalf in a haste to catch up to her.

The city was in chaos, orcs flooded in from all sides, and fantastic beasts the size of garbage trucks stormed too and fro, leaving naught but rubble in their wake. Bella dodged around rock and piles of bricks like a machine, unbelievably glad that she’d let one of the elves darn a pair of pants and simple shirt to fit her well enough over the mithril shirt she still wore. That dwarven dress would have been a hinderance.

“Frodo?!” Bella called, whirling out of the way of an orc’s hammer and delivering a blow with Sting that caught him across the stomach and sent him stumbling back, holding his own intestines in his ugly, gnarled hands. “Frodo where _are_ you?”

“Sigrid!” Someone else called, “Tilda?!”

Bella spun around, locking her eyes on Bard’s son and making a beeline, mowing down every orc in her path with zero hesitation. It was kill or be killed and Bella didn’t plan on dying right then. She needed to find Frodo.

“Bain!” She called, reaching out and wrapping her fingers around his arm. The boy nearly jumped out of his skin but quickly dropped his sword when he saw it was just her. Gods, that little boy was holding a sword. The thought made Bella sick.

“Ms. Baggins!” He had to shout to be heard over all the clamour of the battle, “I… I can’t find my sisters. I think Frodo was with them but I can’t-.”

“Shhh.” Bella ran a hand over his hair, “We will find them together.”  She promised, taking his hand and starting to run.

Orcs were everywhere, like dangerous cockroaches, and Bella lost count of how many she killed in her quest to find Sigrid, Tilda, and Frodo.

If you had told her, upon leaving the Shire, that in not quite a year she would be taking down orc after orc like she took down the ants in her kitchen in college she could have told you, quite frankly, that you were insane and she didn’t even know how to use a sword.

Well, that much was still true, despite how the company had tried to teach her on the road she still had zero idea what she was doing except trying not to die.

But she was pretty good at not dying.

“There!” Bain suddenly called, and sure enough there were Sigrid and Tilda, the eldest girl with a Frodo-shaped bundle attached to her chest and Bella ran faster, crashing into the orc pursuing them with a cry. A sharp kind of pain sliced through Bella’s cheek but she ignored it, shoving Sting through the orc’s face- the only unarmoured part of him.

She stood up, rubbing the back of her shirtsleeve over her bleeding cheek and grimaced, spinning to find all three of Bard’s children staring at her in flat out shock while Frodo just smiled.

“I told you Aunt Bella would save us.” He chirped.

And Bella had to laugh breathlessly, tugging her sword from the corpse of the orc, her smile widening when she glimpsed the familiar form of Bard cutting a path through the orcs, no doubt looking for his children. “Look.”

Sigrid, Tilda, and Bain whirled around, tension draining from their shoulders at the sight of their father.

“Da!” Sigrid screamed, echoed by both her younger siblings, and Frodo who yelled, “Bard!”

The king’s eyes flew to them, though he only looked relieved for a moment. A second later his expression hit something past terror, going somewhere out into the stratosphere of fear and then continuing on as he gazed over top of Bella’s head.

She did not want to turn around. She really, really did not want to turn around. She did, though, she turned just as the massive _something_ (she didn’t want to call it an orc since she really, really did not want to believe that orcs could be that big) brought its club down into her side.

Bella flew through the air with a muted shriek, all the air leaving her lungs before she could utter a sound. Her back hit the wall behind her a split second before her head and then everything went dark.

Bella woke up in a stone room, surrounded by women and children and immediately sat up with a gasp; her entire side was on fire and her head hurt something fierce, like she’d been hit by a semi truck, but she was alive, which was more than she could say for just about anyone else she gave a damn about if she didn’t find some way to stop Azog and fast.

She didn’t know how she knew that, but she knew it and she wasn’t going to question it.

She pushed herself to her feet, groaning in pain as she did so. Every single bit of her hurt and she thought she finally understood what ‘hurting like the Dickens’ felt like. When she brought a hand up to the back of her head it came back sticky with dark, drying blood and she started to sway, veering dangerously to the left before wrapping her arm around her side and forcing herself to limp forward.

“Aunt Bella!” Frodo crashed into her legs and she had to work hard to hold back a cry. “You’re forgetting your sword.” He whispered, eyes large and wet as he looked up at her, Sting held loosely in one hand and trailing behind him. “You need your sword…”

Bella’s face softened and she crouched down with a low hiss, ignoring the way her side throbbed, and gently took Sting from her nephew’s fingers. “Thank you, firefly.” She reached up with her other hand, dragging it through his dark curls and pulling him into press a kiss to his forehead. “I want to stay with you but I-”

“You have to go help the dwarves.” Frodo surprised her with his fierceness. “Save them.” He said.

“I will try.” She promised, “Stay with Sigrid until I or one of the company come for you, alright? _Do not_ leave with anyone you don’t recognize. The rules do not change just because everything else has.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He said, and he smiled. It lit up his dirty, tearstained face and made Bella feel a little lighter. Thank everything for her little firefly and his neverending optimism. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She pressed another, longer kiss to his cheek before standing and heading towards the door. “Stay with Sigrid!” She called over her shoulder.

The door were barricaded, but being a little hobbit she was able to wiggle out without much fuss. And then she just needed to get back to Erebor.

She found Gandalf first, grabbing onto his cloak and stopping him on his way to somewhere. “I am going to Erebor.” She said, leaving no room for argument.

“Bella!” The wizard gasped, like he hadn’t heard her, “Are you alright? Bard said you’d been injured-”

“I’m fine. I’m going to back up the company and I just thought I’d let you know.” She let him go, turning to leave, but Gandalf caught her shoulder.

“If Thorin has not regained his sense by now, you should know that he _will_ kill you.” He said very seriously.

“I know.” Bella swallowed harshly, “I know he will. But I have to _try_ , Gandalf.”

“Then I will wish you well.”

Dale was a mess, but she didn’t have time to stick around and help, and since she identified a flash of blonde hair as Thranduil himself she figured at the very least that the women and children inside the hall would be safe enough. So slipped on the ring and she ran. And she ran. And she ran a little more.

All she could do was run, her entire side was one giant bruise, she could barely lift her sword. Her options were severely limited. She wasn’t a fan of using the ring’s powers after the incident with Smaug but she understood when she had to.

The world slowed and it was almost to easy to pick her way around the battle in Dale and then break into a flat sprint in her mad dash for the kingdom under the mountain.

She knew every way in and out of Erebor, having been shown the in’s and out’s by Dwalin in their week of hardcore preparation, before Bella had given the Arkenstone to Thranduil and Bard. It was so easy to get inside it was almost laughable.  

The company, sans Thorin, was milling about looking absolutely miserable about not being out there in the battle and Bella had absolutely no doubt that that was Thorin’s doing. She sighed as she pulled the ring off and stepped around the pillar she had hidden behind.

The effect was instantaneous, Kili and Fili lept to their feet and crossed to her, arms open to presumably pick her up and crush her in a hug when she raised her hands in warning. “Please don’t.” She said, “I got hit in the side earlier and it’s still sore.”

“What were you doing that you got hit in the side?” Oin asked suspiciously, standing himself and peering at her through narrowed eyes.

“I had just found the children in Dale. One of the.. big… things hit me with his club and slammed me into the wall.”

“Come sit down.” Bofur demanded, holding out a hand.

Bella took two, halting, limping steps, the run taking more out of her already sore body than she’d originally realized, and then Fili was lifting her up, her legs hooked over one of his arm and her back against the other as he brought her right up to Oin.

“Fili!” Bella gasped. “Really, I’m alright. It’s just some bruising, nothing I can’t deal with.”

“There’s blood in your hair.” The eldest prince argued, setting her down carefully.

“It’s stopped bleeding, though.” She said, “It’s already old blood.”

Oin was tugging at her shirt, determined to see her injured side and Bella sighed, pulling the thing up over her head, gasping at the pull of her side as she moved. She clutched the shirt to her chest, over her elvish breast bindings (which were, as she figured, much less cute than her own pink bra) as she let Oin poke and prod at her bruises and the rest of the dwarves barrage her with questions like she’d been gone for weeks instead of a single day.

She was just tugging her shirt back over her head, a pain drawing salve spread over the worst of her bruises, when Kili stood again. Bella inclined her head, her heart leaping and sinking at the same time (which she didn’t know was even possible until that very moment), at the silhouette making it’s way towards them.

Thorin Oakenshield.

But he was different than the last time Bella had seen him; the crown upon his head had been discarded, as had his grandfather’s armor. He looked like himself again, like the dwarf who had pulled her from her panic in the Mirkwood and who had said such perfect things to her in the bedroom in Laketown.

Kili opened his mouth, anger clouding his face, but Bella grabbed his hand. “Do not speak in anger.” She told him. “You will regret it later.” She pulled the one long braid of her hair over her shoulder, the lake of bead at the end striking, at least to her. She’d been wearing Thorin’s for so long....

The youngest prince did not listen, too great was his hurt, all of it low and boiling over the last few weeks. Sooner or later it was bound to burst.

He stomped forward, shoving Thorin backwards by his shoulders, “I will not hide behind a wall of stone while others fight our battles for us!” He shouted. and then added in an almost whisper, “People I care about are out there getting hurt. _Bella_ got hurt, Uncle.” He waved his hand back in her direction, “It is not in my nature to let others get hurt in my stead.”

Thorin sighed, a small, sad smile falling over his face and he pulled Kili into him, pressing their foreheads together, “No, it is not. And I am sorry that it took me so long to see that it is not in mine, either.”

The tension in the chamber released like a sigh and the company converged on the king and the prince, only Bella hanging back. Free from sickness or not she wasn’t sure how she fit in in Thorin’s life anymore aside from “Hobbit Who Stole The Arkenstone”. She swallowed past the lump in her throat, looking anywhere except for at Thorin as he broke away from the group and stepped up to her.

She clenched her eyes shut, nearly choking on a gasp as he tilted her chin up with two fingers. “Will you not look at me?”

“What will I see if I do?” She asked, not moving aside from to speak.

He didn’t say anything else, but he did lean in and kiss her, very gently, and Bella felt the strings keeping her upright and functioning snap. She clutched at him, at his shirt, until her fingers hurt and blinked her eyes open, tears blurring her view of his face and his _eyes_. His clear, blue eyes free of the Scary Thing that had clouded them and broken her heart.

“You’re back.” She whispered.

“I am back.” He confirmed and Bella had to take a deep, shuddering breath to keep from bursting into tears that they absolutely did not have time for.

“Good.” She pulled away from him, wiping at her eyes. “Now, we have a kingdom to defend.”

Behind Thorin’s shoulder Bella could see the Kili pump his fist and do a little dance in place and she had to smile as Thorin turned to face the company.

“I have no right,” he said, “to ask this of any of you but… will you follow me, one last time?” He was somber, resigned, and with a start Bella realized that not only did he expect them to say no, but he also didn’t expect to survive even if they agreed.

As a unit, like it was choreographed and rehearsed a thousand times (and maybe it had been, who knows what they had been doing before Bella showed up?) the company raised their weapons in salute to their king. And a moment later, Bella did as well.

“We will follow you,” she said, meeting the company’s eyes, one after the other to gauge their reaction. “this time, and every time still to come.” She paused then as Thorin turned to her, awe in his face, and she added very quietly, “My king.”

Bella didn’t know where Bombur found the horn, only that it made for a very dramatic entrance when The Company of Thorin Oakenshield entered, what Bella had heard it being called, The Battle of Five Armies.

Using the bell to break down the gate was also a nice, if unnecessary, piece of theatrics that Dori in particular was exceedingly proud of.

They charged from the mountain, Dain’s army rallying around them with a cry, and Bella couldn’t keep the smile from her face even as she was thrown back into battle. She could see them out of the corner of her eyes, the company. Nori and Dori and their maces, Ori and his...slingshot (but he was holding his own, unbelievably enough). Dwalin was close by Ori, as was usual, taking out anything that dared to even look at the scribe with his hammer. Bofur stood by Nori, swinging wildly with his pick axe and sending Bella gleeful winks whenever he caught her looking.

The company fell back into the routine they’d developed when facing Smaug; they all knew just enough “Hobbit” to help each other in battle without letting the orcs know what was going on. The could give one another _direction_ , (left, right, behind you, etcetera) without the enemy ever knowing that their prey was onto them. It gave them the element of surprise. Helped them keep each other safe.

“Lovely day for a battle, isn’t it, lass?” He called, and Bella just laughed in return, even though it turned into a shriek as she ducked to avoid an axe aimed for her head. She shoved outwards with Sting, catching the orc behind the knees and sending him toppling to the ground.

There was no need for her to strike the killing blow, death would find him soon enough and it wouldn’t have to be on her conscious.

Killing was coming easier and easier to her and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it, honestly, even if it did keep the people she loved alive a little while longer.

Every orc she killed felt like minutes to her; one minute for Bombur here, maybe four for Balin there. She didn’t see them as creatures; she saw them as clocks of her friend’s lives and every one she killed bought them more time.

She caught sight of Thorin as she left another orc gravely injured but not dead, twirling through battle, leading the dance as he always did and making it look almost easy. He saw her too then, grinning first at her and then at something over her shoulder.

“Dain!” He called, twirling elegantly and dispatching the orc aiming for her neck.

“Thorin!” Dain called back from behind Bella, “Hold on, let me just save yer lass here from-”

Bella turned and shoved Sting through the chest of the orc Dain was referencing, armor and all. “You were saying?” She gasped breathlessly, fighting her own grin at the dumbfounded look on the red headed dwarf’s face as she jerked her sword free.

Dain laughed, turning from her and jumping onto the back of one of the enormous beasts that had taken Bella out earlier, and she took the opportunity to gut it properly. She was not too proud to admit that it was more to make herself feel better than to help Thorin’s cousin.

As the creature fell, Dain rolled out of the way, climbing back to his feet almost instantly and clapping Bella on the shoulder, “I take it back, lass. Ye have yerself covered just fine.”

“Thank you.” Damn straight she did.

She got dragged over to Thorin, not even released when Dain paused to embrace the king warmly. “There’s a war going on here, you know.” She said weakly when they pulled apart.

“Aye, there is.” Dain agreed. “And we are drowning in these buggers, so tell me one of you has a plan.”

At that, Thorin’s eyes rose to the hill where Azog had set up basecamp. “I do.” He said lowly, “Take our their leader.”

“Azog?” Dain asked, following Thorin’s gaze.

“He will die by my hand on this day.” Thorin confirmed and Bella rolled her eyes skyward.

Bella had traveled with dwarves for far too long to listen to anymore of Thorin Oakenshield’s suicidal ideas. “This is a horrible plan.” She told him. “I agree with the ‘cutting the head off the snake’ metaphor in most cases but in _this_ case…. It’s suicide.” That resignation from earlier passed over his face again and it hit her, “And you know it.” She swallowed hard, “You’re going to die-”

“Belladonna-”

“No!” Bella gasped, “No, you knew all along didn’t you? You _planned_ this. Since we faced him outside the goblin tunnels you’ve been planning to die by his hand as long as you got to take him with you!”

She had been the one, only moments ago, trying to get them to focus on the battle at hand, but nothing skewed her priorities like Thorin freaking Oakenshield.

“I do not plan on dying, Belladonna, but if I must-”

“If your plan involves more than a fifty percent chance of death then _you need a new plan_.” A flash of something dark to her right had Bella whirling around with Sting, blocking the mace of the orc that had broken through the circle of dwarves that had surrounded them and kicking his legs out from under him before shoving Sting down through his neck.

By the time she turned back around to continue her attempt at knocking some sense into the king under the mountain, Thorin was gone, and so were four war goats (and Fili, Kili, and Dwalin.)

Gandalf arrived in Erebor then, taking down almost a dozen orcs with one wide twirl of his staff and making a beeline for Bella, who was trying to fight her way through a small mountain of the smelly bastards in the hopes of somehow reaching Thorin before he sacrificed himself.

“Belladonna Baggins!” The wizard called and Bella spun around so quickly that she missed blocking a swipe at her arm.

She yelled, taking the orc down in a few quick swipes as blood soaked through the already torn and dirty fabric of her shirt. “Gandalf!” She gasped a second later, “Can you see them? Are they there yet?”

“Are who, where?” He asked, his eyes roaming the battlefield.

“Thorin and the others.” She stood on her toes, looking towards the hill before having to quickly drop into a crouch to keep her head on her shoulders. A second later an orcs arm was lying on the ground and Bella was using her foot to pry the corpse off of Sting. “They went after Azog.”

“ _Ravenhill_?” Gandalf hissed out  something in a language that Bella didn’t understand then, “I just spoke to Legolas and Tauriel, there is a second army coming in from the north, towards Ravenhill, led by Bolg.”

“From the North?” Bella asked, panic seizing her chest, “Another… Thorin, Fili, Kili and Dwalin are up there _now_.” She couldn’t breathe, “This was Azog’s plan the whole time.” She gasped. “Thorin is up there to probably sacrifice himself to kill Azog but Bolg will be waiting. I have to warn him.” She turned to run, “Find the company, send them after me, Thorin is going to need us we have to-”

Gandalf grabbed her arm, “You will be killed in a moment if you try to go alone, they will see you and they will kill you.”

“No they won’t.” She wrenched her arm away, “I am a hobbit.” She said, and then she was running, “Send the company!” She called behind her, “And Legolas and Tauriel if you can find them!”

As soon as she was out of Gandalf’s sight she pulled the ring from her pocket and shoved it onto her finger, closing her eyes as the world stilled around her and taking a deep breath. She had to save them. All of them.

She was riding off script, had been since the arrival of the orcs, when the elves allied themselves with the dwarves against the common enemy. Hell, if she was being honest with herself, she had been off script since she had arrived in Arda.

Gandalf had said that things hadn’t changed because she was there, that she was there because things were changing. Smaug had spoken of a darkness.

That darkness, or forces working for it, were about to take away everything she had grown to love and it hit her, all at once, that she had been there to save them all along.

What’s what Galadriel had meant when she had told Gandalf that she was doing well, she had decided that she was going to save them, everything else be damned and that was exactly what she had been brought there to do.

Thorin and his company would live.

Bella would make sure of it.

Her mind made up, she opened her eyes and left Erebor behind her.

Azog did _not_ get to win.

Bella had never run so far, so quickly in her entire life but she had to get to them before Bolg. There was a voice in her head telling her to run faster, to push harder, because one second could literally be the difference between them living or dying.

Hopefully Gandalf did as she asked, hopefully the company was hot on her heels, coming to their king’s aid, because Bella did not like their chances against all of Bolg’s army without them; four dwarves and a hobbit against an army of orcs?

Even with all fourteen of them it would take a miracle to pull it off. Bella had already used up her one miracle killing Smaug, but she was fervently hoping for another.

The icey rock was slippery under Bell’s feet and hand as she climbed and more than once she nearly lost her grip and went tumbling back down like Jack and Jill but she held on.

She reached the top just as the goblins did.

“We will handle this!” She heard Thorin shout to Fili and Kili, “Go!”

“ _Wait_!” She shrieked, ripping the ring off and scrambling to her feet, “Wait! Do not split up!” She called, watching as all four dwarves turned to her, their mouths hanging open at her sudden appearance. “There is another army!” She skid to a stop next to Thorin, dispatching a goblin that was about to shove it’s sword through the king’s boot. “Lead by Bolg.” She gasped, whirling out of the way of another attack, her braid flying, “This is a trap.”

“A trap?” Fili repeated, tussling with his own goblins, twin swords gleaming in the light, “They set a _trap_?”

“Azog is not as stupid as you would like to believe.” Bella told Thorin, pressing her back against his and continuing to slash at the goblins. “He wanted to distract you with the attack on Dale and Erebor and lure you up here. He probably wanted to split you up, keep you chasing after him until Bolg arrived and could pick you off one by one.” The more she spoke the more Bella believed that was the plan all along. “We have to _stay together_.”

“How do you know all this?” Dwalin asked, curiosity instead of an accusation which was a nice change of pace from the beginning of their journey.

“Gandalf.” Bella said, movement flashing in the corner of her eye, “Duck, Thorin!” As the king hit the ground, Bella whirled around with Sting, blocking the attack in Thorin’s blind spot and shoving the goblin back a few paces where Kili quickly finished him off.

“When did you get so good at this?” Thorin shouted over the shrieks of the remaining goblins; maybe twenty left out of the seventy or so that had attacked them to begin with.

“Cram session while you were swimming in your treasure.” She blocked another axe heading for her already injured arm, “I can shoot a bow now, too.” Not with any sort of accuracy, but she could send the arrow in just about the direction she intended with minimal injury to _herself_.

“Is _that_ what you call it?” Kili teased, sliding past her, his boots having zero traction on the ice.

“Shut up and shoot, Durin!” She shouted, jabbing her thumb towards a goblin trying to climb Azog’s tower. An arrow whizzed passed her head a second later.

“Thank you.” She shouted.

It seemed like only a minute later that they were standing in complete silence, trying to catch their breaths, the bodies of almost a hundred dead goblins littering the ground around them.

“We need to get out of here.” Bella said, breathlessly, “We need to get out of here _right now_ , because if we do not leave before Bolg gets here then we do not leave _at all_.”

“Bolg will have us surrounded in an instant.” Dwalin agreed.

And then Bella heard it, the kind of cacophonous ruckus that could only be caused by orcs, and plenty of them and she sighed. Nothing could ever be easy. “Change of plans, anyone?” She asked, idly, her eyes locked on the tunnel the noise was coming from as she shook out her injured arm. It was bleeding again, new blood joining the old and running down, the hand around her sword becoming slippery with it.

Bella swore quietly, slamming Sting down into the ice and reaching for the already torn sleeve of her shirt to use it as a makeshift bandage.

She had to wrap it quickly, just to keep the blood from making her lose her grip. Other, larger hands joined hers and Bella’s hands flicked up to Thorin’s briefly as he ripped away her entire sleeve easily, hissing through his teeth at her torn skin. “When did this happen?”

“Uh…” Everything had kind of blurred together, “I’m not sure?” She kept shooting anxious glances at the tunnel; they didn’t have much time. Thorin tied the entire sleeve around the gash, backing away as she hastily wiped her slippery hand on her pants until she felt that she could keep her grip on Sting.

She pulled it free just as the first wave of orcs descended upon them. She lost sight of the other’s quickly, moving too quickly to even keep track of where she was herself, let alone four dwarves moving just as quickly in opposite directions.

Bella fought there for who knows how long, with absolutely no idea where her friend’s were, or how they fared, each orc being reduced to a time more miniscule than the last, one minute for Kili here, maybe half a minute for Fili there, sixteen seconds for Thorin…

A flash of vividly red hair caught Bella’s attention and then a moment later Tauriel appeared in front of her, spinning and twirling and firing off arrows like she was born doing it. “Where is Kili?” She asked.

“I don’t know.” Bella replied, jabbing her elbow back at an orc trying to sneak up on her and following up with an almost savage slash of Sting. Twelve seconds for Thorin. “Have you seen the others?”

“The company is on their way.” The elf said, shooting an orc over the top of Bella’s head and buying Kili another seven seconds. “Dain’s forces continue to defend Erebor, as Bard’s hold Dale.”

“Good.” Bella gasped, dropping onto her hands and knees and grabbing onto the ankle of the orc who had tried to stab her in the stomach, she tugged hard, towards herself, and watched the orc fall backwards before she scrambled to her feet and drove Sting home in his neck. “Thorin… have you seen Thorin? Fili? Dwalin?”

“I saw Fili to the west side of the hill.” Tauriel fired off three arrows at once, every single one of them finding their target. “Dwalin is down here with us somewhere and Thorin is…”

Bella’s heart stopped and she froze, nearly dropping her sword, “Thorin is _what_?”

“Thorin is with Azog to the north of us-” Tauriel didn’t finish before Bella was off again, dodging and ducking, engaging only when she absolutely had to, “Bella!” Tauriel called after her.

“Find Kili!” Bella shouted back, not faltering in her steps even as she nearly lost her footing on the ice.

She skid to a stop, nearly tumbling off a steep drop directly overlooking the area where Thorin was doing battle with Azog. Except, Azog wasn’t brave enough to fight Thorin himself, instead choosing to send his minions at the king.

Wave after wave of orcs barraged Thorin and he just took them out almost mechanically while Azog yelled encouragements to the orcs in black speak.

Bella didn’t scream for Thorin, that would have just distracted him and maybe gotten him killed, instead she slipped the ring on her finger and started to climb.

They never saw her coming, orc after orc fell under the invisible force dancing around them. She brushed a hand over the back of Thorin’s neck as she passed him, “Someone call for a hobbit?” She laughed as Thorin whirled around looking for her.

“Up to your old tricks, I see.” He grunted, swinging Orcrist in a wide arc.

“Yes, well, if it _works_.” Bella darted around Thorin, quick as a whip, and shoved her sword into the stomach of one of the big things, pressing in until her hand hit it’s grey, cold flesh and then jerking it once more for good measure before pulling back and pressing her back against Thorin’s with a quick call of, “ _Taobh thiar duit!_ ” so he would know it was her and wouldn’t stab first, ask questions later. 

Arrows rained down upon them a few seconds later, taking down orcs almost too rapidly for Bella to keep track of. Legolas stood almost directly across from Azog, high above them all, his bow drawn and his gaze focused as he hit one orc after the other with deadly accuracy.

A roar from Bella’s left had her turning, waving her sword and realizing what was about to happen about the same time Thorin did.

She was smack dab in the middle between Legolas and that orc _and Legolas didn’t know she was there_.

Bella gasped loudly as Thorin called out, “Wait!” to the elf, but it was too late; by the time Bella had the ring off of her finger the arrow had already been fired and she couldn’t move away. The air burst from Bella’s lungs in a nearly silent gasp as the arrow found it’s mark in the fleshy part of her side.

Legolas cried out in shock as Bella fell to her knees, her hands flying to the shaft of the arrow protruding from her side. The feel of it alone almost made her sick so she didn’t dare to look. It didn’t hurt, yet, but it felt strange.

“Bella,” Thorin gasped, dropping down next to her and cradling her face in one hand while the other fluttered helplessly around the wound in her side, he looked up, to Legolas, “Find a healer!” He demanded, “Find one now!”

Bella’s eyes fluttered closed and then open again as Thorin brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Bella, stay with me, Belladonna, come on, please.” The king was saying but Bella’s eyes were drawn over his shoulder, at the large figure moving slowly towards them.

Bella opened her mouth, trying frantically to make herself form words, “A-A- _Azog_.” She lifted one hand, pale under the deep scarlet stain of her own blood, pointing at the orc as he lifted his knife hand.

Thorin spun around, raising Orcrist just in time to block the attack, and Bella relaxed the slightest bit only to tense again a the pain from her wound finally hit her. She collapsed into the snow with a low cry, unable to do more than watch as the man she loved battled for his life against the orc who killed his grandfather and drove his father mad.

Her vision started to go dark as the snow around her slowly reddened, and she _tried_ to stay awake. She had to stay awake. She needed to help Thorin. She had to save him.

She had to…

When Bella came to again, Thorin was screaming. That was enough to force her eyes open, though her lids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds each. She was laying in a pool of red, but all she could see was white. There was white in her eyelashes, white in her hair, white all around her. It had started to snow.

Thorin was still screaming and Bella heaved herself onto her uninjured side -Legolas’ arrow had very conveniently hit her in the side the monster had smashed- in time to see Azog break through the ice at Thorin’s feet.

How had Azog gotten in there?

The king fell back and Bella’s breath left her body; Azog had his sword at Thorin’s throat and Bella recognized the position. Dwalin had taken great care to warn Bella about getting herself under someone in that way. There was _no way_ Thorin could get out of that. Not with how weakened he obviously was.

If Bella knew that, Thorin definitely knew that. Azog was bearing down with his full weight and Thorin was only just holding him off. But he couldn't for much longer.

“ _Thorin_!” Bella reached down blindly, wrapping her fingers around the arrow shaft. Azog and Thorin both turned, Thorin’s face white as sheet as he watched her rip Legolas’ arrow from her side. She cried out, lowering her forehead onto the cold snow as Azog laughed at her pain.

“Bella…” Thorin croaked and she looked up again, determined as she scowled at the laughing orc.

She pushed herself to her feet, gripping Sting loosely in one hand and clamping her free hand over her freely bleeding side. She stumbled forward a few steps, getting the feel for how she could and could not move. Azog was focused on her, but he didn’t let up on Thorin enough for the king to do anything about it. She needed to be a bigger distraction.

Bella grinned then, sliding a hand into her pocket, “Now you see me…” she croaked before slipping the ring on and disappearing from sight. _Now you don’t._

Azog physically jumped, but he still didn’t falter. No matter, he couldn't see her coming anymore.

Bella stepped around the pair of them carefully, moving as quickly as she was able and avoiding places where snow had gathered so she didn’t give herself away with something as silly as a footprint.

Azog didn’t expect her to come at him from the front.

Bella leapt over Thorin’s head and top half, launching herself off of the stone and ice under her feet and colliding with Azog’s chest, knocking him backwards and off of Thorin, she landed on top of the orc and ripped off the ring, raising sting above her head.

She grinned at him, her mouth tasting of copper blood and her teeth stained red from where she’d bitten through her lip on the impact. Behind her, she could hear Thorin pushing to his feet. _“Long live Thorin Oakenshield._ ” She whispered to the orc for a second time, and then she shoved her sword through Azog’s shoulder, pinning him to the ground the rolling out of the way as Thorin arrived to finish the job.

She laid in the snow, turning her face away as Thorin Oakenshield finally, _finally_ took the head of the monster who broke his family.

The king dropped next to her a moment later, breathing heavily and when Bella looked at him the pallor of his face almost sent her into a panic. “Thorin?” She pushed herself up onto an elbow, crying out sharply at the pain in her side. “Thorin are you-” he was bleeding. His stomach and chest were bleeding. “Thorin!”

The king leant back onto the ground, looking up at her though she didn’t think we was seeing her. His breathing was coming harder and harder as Bella forced herself to sit up, pulling his shirt out of the way entirely and revealing slowly reddening mithril. “But how?” She whispered, looking up at him with eyes, “No blade can pierce it, Thorin!”

“It wasn’t...a...normal blade.” Thorin gasped, his eyes slowly closing.

“ _No_!” Bella shook his shoulder, though her own head was heavy, “Thorin, don’t you dare. The company will be here soon…” She hoped. “You just need to stay awake a little while longer, darling. _Please_.”

Thorin opened his eyes almost comically wide. “Your side?” He asked.

Bella looked down and then quickly away, covering it with her hand. “Not good.” She answered honestly, carefully lifting his head and settling it in her lap, pushing his sweat damp hair out of his face with gentle fingers.

Her wound didn’t hurt anymore. She was pretty sure that wasn’t a good thing.

“I’m glad you’re here.” Thorin said, finally, blinking up at her blearily. “I would leave you in at least friendship-”

“You and I both know well that we are far more than just friends, Thorin Oakenshield.” She smiled weakly down at him. “And besides, you are not going anywhere. You are staying right here, okay? Here, with me, where you belong. And once you’re feeling better I am going to kick your ass for running off like that.”

“I want to take back what I said at the gate…” He continued like he hadn’t heard her, “I did not mean a thing that I said. I love you more than any stone in any mountain and I am… I am sorry that it took me so long to see that.” His eyes dropped to Bella’s side, the bottom half of her white shirt stained almost completely red from her own blood. “And I am sorry to have brought you into such peril.”

Bella’s vision was starting to darken at the edges, but she smiled down at him regardless, “I would share in your every peril, Thorin. Again, and again, and again as long as you would permit me to.” And she realized with a start that _hadn’t_ told him yet, she’d told Bofur, and Frodo, and _Smaug_ , but she had never told the king how she felt about him, “Because I love you too.” She whispered, “More than the sun, the moon, and all of the stars. And I would like to stay with you.” Whether she was allowed to or not was another thing but she _wanted_ to stay.

A smile lit up his face, weak as he was, and he reached up with one blood stained hand to brush his finger across her cheek. “You love me?” He whispered, awed.

“I do.” She turned her head and pressed a kiss to his palm. “I love you. And that is why you need to stay awake, Thorin, because I cannot lose you when I’ve only just found you.”

Thorin’s throat bobbed as he swallowed harshly, “I knew it was you… I knew you were my One. There was no other explanation for how much I felt so quickly.”

“Your what?”

“Dwarves we… we love differently. Stronger. We have a _One_. One person, one being, who we are supposed to be with. Most dwarves are bound to another of our kind but I never… I always knew my One was different.” He grinned up at her almost deliriously, _“You are my One._ ”

Bella laughed, breathlessly, and didn’t even notice herself falling sideways until she hit the ground. The puddle of blood around them was impressive, though she didn’t know how much had come from who.

She noticed absently that not even the snow felt cold to her anymore. She was numb in a terrifying but not entirely _unpleasant_ way.

“Belladonna?” Thorin said urgently and Bella had the wherewithal to smile reassuringly at him.

“I’m glad that you’re here.” She repeated him, though she was more referencing their conversation about Frerin and how the young prince was probably just exceedingly glad that Thorin had been with him in his last moments. “Can you… make sure that someone looks after Frodo?” She asked slowly, her eyes starting to close.

“ _Belladonna_!”

“Hobbits…” she whispered. “Hobbits didn’t have anything like a ‘One’ but I think… I think that if we did, you would be mine, Thorin.”

The darkness claimed her as a multitude of voices started to call her name.

* * *

 

Bella woke up lying on something soft with her entire upper body wrapped in tight, heavy bandages. Her everything hurt and she wondered idly if there was any phrase for something that ranked _above_ ‘hurting like the dickens’ that didn’t involve a swear word.

She was alone, as far as she could tell. The air around her was silent, not even the sound of snoring breaking through the quiet and she struggled to sit up, hissing loudly as the stitches in her side pulled.

She was alive. She hadn’t expected that.

“Miss. Baggins.” And suddenly she wasn’t alone.

There was a woman sitting by her bed, a tall, graceful, fair woman dressed in all white with a circlet upon her head.

“The Lady Galadriel graces me with her presence at last.” Bella mumbled wryly, pushing a hand through her unbound and blessedly clean hair. “To what do I owe the honor?”

Galadriel smiled kindly, “You have done so well, Belladonna Baggins. Better than I could have ever anticipated. Through your courage and heart, the darkness has been vanquished. Possibly for good, this time, as you carry the source of his power with you and shall continue to carry it back into your world where it’s abilities shall be thusly neutralized in your land without magic.”

The source of- “The _ring_.” Bella whispered. “The ring that I picked up in the goblin tunnels, that’s the source of the darkness isn’t it?”

Galadriel nodded, and folded her hands in her lap before beginning, in her light, melodic voice, to tell the tale of Sauron’s rise and fall, of the ring of power, and of what had nearly come to pass in Dol Guldur. How Sauron had nearly risen again and had been the one to send Azog and Bolg on their quest to take back Erebor and destroy the sons of Durin.

“But what would Sauron care of Thorin reclaimed his home? What would it have mattered?”

“Thorin Oakenshield was never meant to reach Erebor. Azog was sent to kill him for Sauron desired full control of the mountain. Not only was it a great source of wealth, but Erebor is placed so perfectly it would be the perfect start to reclaiming the once great fortress of Angmar. Should that have come to pass all of Arda would have fallen.” Galadriel smiled, “That is where you came in.”

“One tiny not-a-hobbit against Sauron’s evil plot for world domination?” Bella asked incredulously, “And while you’re explaining _that_ bit of truly fantastic decision making, why don’t you fill me in on why Frodo was brought here as well?”

The elf actually looked a little embarrassed, “Your nephew was an accident.” She admitted, “We did not take into consideration that someone would be so close to you when the spell was cast. As for why we needed _you_ … you picked up on our world, Belladonna Baggins. Somehow, somewhere, you knew that we existed. And in return, we became aware of you as well. You knew the trials that Thorin would face on his journey. You could lead him, help him, keep him safe.”

“But I didn’t write of Azog and Sauron.” Bella pointed out, “That was all as big a surprise to me as it was the rest of the company.”

“Sauron did not know about you, specifically. But he did pick up on the change in the air. Something was different. What had been an impossible quest was now completely plausible, even likely. He did not know what had caused the change, but he did know that he now needed to have a hand in stopping it.”

“Which is where Azog came into play.” Bella nodded, not sure if she was relieved or not at finally getting the answer she craved. “And I… I succeeded?” She asked quietly, “The company… they live?”

Galadriel stood. “A Durin sits on the throne of Erebor.” She answered, moving to the door.

And wow, that was _cryptic._

“That’s not what I asked.” Bella called, but it was too late. Galadriel was gone and Bella was so tired anyways, wiped out after the sudden influx in information. All she wanted to do was sleep...and sleep...and sleep a little more…

* * *

 

Bella woke up slowly and with the familiar weight of Frodo on her chest; he often crawled into her bed when he had a bad dream. He never woke her, just slipped into bed and pressed himself against her side.

She immediately noticed that something was off; first of all, she was in a bed which rarely happened, she spent so much time on the road. Secondly, there was absolutely no snoring around her, or bickering, or clanging swords. It was all absolutely silent.

Until the shrill beeping of her alarm broke through it.

Bella shot up, dislodging Frodo from her chest as she stared around her in awe. Her bed. Her room. Her phone and her computer. Blue walls, wooden floor, antique clock on the wall.

She scrambled for her phone; Monday, 19th January, 2015. The day that she should have had a meeting with her editor after she dropped Frodo at school but which instead turned out to be the day that she met The Company of Thorin Oakenshield.

“Was it… was it a dream?” She froze, considering the possibility that somehow her subconscious had dreamed a year of adventuring into one night’s sleep and then pulled her shirt, that same tank top that had, in the end, been reduced to a rag at the bottom of her pack, up. There, in the fleshy part of her side, was an oblong, circular scar that stood out angry and red against the rest of her skin.

And, unbelievably, the reminder of being shot with an arrow, calmed Bella’s rapidly beating heart and cleared her head.

It had all been real. Everything. Arda, the company, _Thorin_ , the Dragon, Azog, the ring- _the ring_!

Bella looked around frantically, smacking her hands against her pockets until she found it in the back pocket of her sweats. It felt tiny compared to her full sized hands, and when she slipped it on the world didn’t slow down and Bella stayed perfectly visible in the mirror across from her bed.

“Not so evil now, are you?” She whispered, pulling the damned thing off and tossing it, uncaringly, onto her bedside table. Not that the ring had ever been particularly evil to her, it had enabled her to save her friends, to save _Thorin_.

To maybe save Thorin…

All Galadriel had told her was that a son of Durin sat on the throne of Erebor. That could be Fili, Kili, or Thorin, or even to a lesser degree Dain, Dwalin, Balin, Oin, or Gloin. They all came from Durin’s line.

Thorin could be dead for all she knew, and she would never know. She would never see him again even if was alive. She would never see _any_ of them again.

She’d never throw small rocks at Dwalin while he batted them away, his face as serious as though they were arrows.

She would never challenge Nori to steal random things from random members of the company just to see how long it would take them to notice.

Dori would never again try, in vain, to teach her to sew.

Ori wouldn’t ever ask her to sit still so he could draw her.

The prince’s would never argue over who got to do her hair.

Frodo would never get to nap on Bombur or be chased around by Bifur.

Balin would never regale either of them with his tales of old.

Gloin wouldn’t rant about his wife or child while his brother made exaggerated faces behind his back.

Bofur and Bella would never it around til well after three in the morning, talking about anything and everything while the company snored around them.

She would never kiss Thorin again, never hug him, never watch him with Frodo.

They were all lost, like they were nothing more than a dream though Bella had the scar on her side (and, after she bothered to look, her arm)...

The sob bubbled up in Bella’s throat and she was helpless to stop it, clamping her hands over her mouth to hopefully muffle the sounds and not wake Frodo. But a few moments later her nephew was wiggling his way into her arms and tucking his head against her shoulder, his entire body shaking with his own quiet tears.

They had wanted to stay.

Oh. had they wanted to stay.

Bella missed her meeting with her editor, and Frodo didn’t go back to school for an entire week.

They moped around the house that week, in their pajamas, eating ice cream straight from the tub and spontaneously breaking out in tears until finally Bella wrapped them both up in the blanket from her bed and settled them out on the back porch.

“Do you think they can see the stars?” Frodo asked in a whisper, curling his entire body on Bella’s lap like he was still hobbit sized.

“I think they can.” Bella confirmed, clutching her nephew closer to her.

They were literally a whole world apart, on either side of a skyline that split in two (maybe more), but she was almost sure that they were looking at the same stars.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand Bella is back in her own world.
> 
> And also Thorin and the princes may be deady dead dead.
> 
> "MARY I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN UNHAPPY ENDINGS?"
> 
> I DONT SO YOU BETTER COME BACK AND READ THE EPILOGUE, HUH????????
> 
>  
> 
> Translations:  
> "Hobbit" (Irish)  
> Taobh thiar duit - Behind you
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you so much for reading <3  
> The title for this chapter comes from "Towards The Sun" by Rihanna for the movie "Home" and I definitely recommend giving it a listen while you read this bc it's EXCELLENT Battle Music! 
> 
> <3


	10. All The Mountains We Moved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happily Ever After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT? TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY?
> 
> Wrong, one chapter and then the epilogue. So it's like a chapter and a half because this is only like 4k. 
> 
> THIS IS IT. It's over. It's done. Bella went there and back again and lived to tell the tale. 
> 
> So without further ado, The End.

They say that all sorrows can be borne if you put them in a story, and Bella had a lot of sorrows and a particular proclivity for storytelling. After all, it wasn’t letting go that was difficult, it was learning to start again.

So, nearly two months after she and Frodo returned “home”, she sat down at her computer and she wrote the _alternate_ Arda series.

The one where the wizard, Gandalf The Grey, employs the burglaring abilities of the simple hobbit, Lydia Holland, to steal back the Arkenstone from the dragon.

Some things she left out, like Frodo and the things she and the king got up to in Laketown.

She included the ring and the orcs and when she got to the end… Thorin and his nephews did not face the same end as they had in the original. Even if Bella didn’t know for certain that they had all survived she had to either _believe_ that they did or go completely insane.

It was a hit, the series was more popular than ever, both the original and the alternate series. When asked why the sudden rewrite Bella simply laughed and asked, “Why not?”

It took them a while to adjust; despite his perpetually optimistic demeanor when everything was actually happening, Frodo had nightmares... he dreamt of orcs and dragons and of riding down a river in a barrel; Bella jumped at every odd sound, her hand automatically flying to her hip, searching for a sword that wasn’t there; horror movies were a no; neither of them could sleep alone, or in silence…

They clung to each other tighter than ever, the loss of their friends in Arda, the knowledge that they would _never see them again_ weighing so heavily on the pair of them that they didn’t want to risk letting anyone else in.

Somewhere around the two year mark, Frodo started talking to the stars; just sitting out on the back porch after the sun went down and _talking_ until he ran out of things to say. He spoke about his day, about games he played, and things he learned in school. Sometimes he even spoke about her.

“Someone asked Aunt Bella out today.” She heard as she passed by the back door with her mug of tea, “She said no, of course, but I thought you’d like to know.”

“Frodo?” She called, opening the door all the way and poking her head outside. “Who are you talking to?”

Frodo turned around, half a cucumber sandwich held in one hand as he said, “Thorin.” and took a bite, “He says your hair looks nice like that. And that he loves you.” He spoke with his mouth full but Bella was too gobsmacked to chastise him for it.

“Okay.” She finally said, “Tell him I love him too.” And she closed the door again, shaking her head.

And she let it go. It didn’t stop, even as two years turned into three, but Bella still didn’t say anything. It _helped_ Frodo. He started socializing more, even if he never really connected with the children he went to school with, he laughed more often, cried less… He even opted to go on his class trip, though it would mean a full three days away from Bella.

There was a tradition among the year 6 classes to bring their students to a campground in Wales for a weekend near the end of the year, once the weather got warmer. Frodo, after spending the entire year deliberating the pros and cons, had decided that it was an experience that he should probably...well, experience.

Bella had assured him that it would be a blast, she herself had gone on the same trip when she was his age. It would be kind of like when they were in Arda, she had told him, just with less of a chance of dying a horrible death.

She’d gotten an unimpressed look and a long, drawn out, “Thaaaaaaanks.” from her nephew in return and she had ruffled his hair, teasing him about looking remarkably like Fili with that expression on his face.

So, she had some free time and absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do with it. A full day of gym time and the playlist simply titled “Can You See The Stars” (her Arda mix) seemed to be the answer.

Bella had gotten into _amazing_ shape running for her life, and though the other people who frequented her gym had a few calculating looks for her, judging the fact that she was still not what could be considered _thin_ as well as the still red scars on her side and arm, she still tried to go at least three times a week while Frodo was in school.

She left the gym nearly six hours after she arrived, sweaty, and gross, and so tired that she thought her legs would give out on the way to the car. She didn’t even make it that far.

She slammed into what felt like a brick wall thirty seconds after walking through the gym’s door.

Bella stumbled back, her gym bag falling to the ground along with her phone; she had been texting Frodo back to answer his question about Bombur’s sweet campfire snack and therefore not watching where she’d been going.

She swore, softly, in Khuzdul, and nearly lost her balance before strong hands caught her around her arms.

“I didn’t teach you that.” The person who caught her said and Bella’s gaze shifted upwards so quickly she almost made herself dizzy.

Fili, son of Dís, smiled back down at her, his hair and beard shorter but his eyes no less blue as he looked at her so fondly it felt, for a moment, as if she’d never left. “I’m going to get blamed for that,” he continued, “but I didn’t teach you that.”

“I did.” Piped up Kili from somewhere to their left and Bella couldn’t help the soft cry that left her mouth.

She had to be dreaming. She had worn herself out so entirely that she was actually asleep on one of the machines and she was _dreaming_. Because she was never going to see Fili or Kili again, she knew that and she had, basically, accepted it.

“I don’t think you’ve ever been so quiet for so long.” Fili commented, “Not even while you were sleeping.”

“Am I dreaming?” Bella asked weakly, and then Kili was crowding in on his brother, reaching out to curl his fingers around Bella’s hand, smiling gently at her.

“You’re not dreaming.” He said. “Tauriel gained uncle, Fee, and I an audience with the Lady Galadriel and we convinced her to send us here after you.”

Bella swallowed the bubble of emotion in her throat and tried to form coherent sentences, “Is… is Thorin here too?” She managed and then Fili was moving away from her and turning her around with his hands firm on her shoulders.

She gaped at the man standing by her car like she’d never seen him before, except that it wasn’t that she’d never seen him _before_ but instead that she’d thought she would never see him _again_.

Thorin Oakenshield looked a lot like he did in Bella’s memories of him, his hair was a little shorter and he was wearing jeans instead of his chainmail and coat, but other than that…

Bella stepped forward on jelly legs, leaving her bag on the sidewalk with Fili and Kili and quickly crossing the parking lot. Thorin straightened when he saw her coming, pulling his hands from his pockets and split second before Bella crashed into him.

His arms came around her, crushing her into his chest, and Bella didn’t care, opting to just hold him tighter to compensate.

“I thought you were dead.” She whispered brokenly. “I thought you were all dead.”

“How do you think we felt when you suddenly disappeared?” Thorin asked back, “We panicked for three days before Gandalf returned and explained to us what had happened…. Belladonna, why didn’t you tell us?”

“How was I supposed to?” Bella mumbled into the fabric of Thorin’s shirt, “I didn’t know why I was there, or how… all filling you all in would have done is made you suspicious of me. And it would have been really hard for me to save you all if you were questioning my every move.”

“You could have at least told me after-” after they were a _them_ , after Laketown, after she knew that he loved her.

“I wanted to.” She admitted, “But I didn’t know how so I just… I took the easy way out and kept my big mouth shut.” Thorin’s arms tightened around her even further and Bella didn’t try to back her smile, “Why are you here?” She asked, “The boys said that you convinced Galadriel to send you here?”

“They used ‘convinced’ a little too loosely. I’m fairly certain she only agreed to shut them up.” Behind her, Bella could hear Fili and Kili start to sputter indignantly at their uncle’s words and she started to laugh, finally removing her face from Thorin’s shoulder to look at him properly.

“Oh…” She whispered, bringing one hand up to gently brush at the scar bisecting the king’s eyebrow.

Thorin winced, “It is a little unseemly, Dís keeps saying-”

“Dís is going to give you hell, Thorin. She’s your baby sister. It is literally in her job description to be a pest.” Bella shook her head, rubbing her thumb over the scar more firmly; it was rough and raised to the touch but Bella didn’t think it was unseemly. “I like it.” She told him, “It’s distinguished.”

It had taken a lot of self love and reflection (and a fair amount of employing the “fake it until you make it” method for Bella to come to accept her own scars. But eventually she managed to look at them without wincing, and even then she was standing in the gym parking lot in naught by a sports bra and her yoga pants, both the scar on her side and the one on her arm displayed for the world to see.

She earned those scars (and the hidden one on the back of her head, under her hair) saving people she loved dearly. She would not be ashamed of them.

“You earned that scar protecting your kingdom and your family, Thorin Oakenshield. And you should be proud of each and every scar acquired in such a noble way.” She smiled, settling her free hand over Thorin’s arm and gently leading his hand to her side. His fingers found her scar in an instant, “I used to hate it.” She said softly, “I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror for nearly a year. But then I thought, if I hadn’t been doing what I had been doing to earn this scar than you might have been killed before ever facing Azog. And then I hated it a little less.”

Thorin’s thumb rubbed light, burning hot strokes over Bella’s scar as he said, “I am sorry you-”

“I had the time of my life.” She interrupted him, “Thorin, I honestly had the best time of my entire life fighting dragons with you. I did nothing that I did not want to do.” She paused, the bitter taste of bile at the back of her mouth as she thought about that sentence and how it was, innately, true, “Even stealing the Arkenstone.” She admitted, “I am not saying that I am proud of what I did, or that I do not regret it immensely, but I _am_ saying that at the time it is exactly what I wanted to do.”

Fili and Kili moved in closer and Bella couldn't look at any of their faces as she finally told them the truth.

“It was the hardest thing I ever did, in reality. But in _theory_?” She took a deep, shaky breath, “I wanted it _gone_. I hate the Arkenstone, I knew what it was doing to you, to all of you. When I told you that I didn’t want to steal it I lied straight to your face. I wanted to steal it, but I didn’t want Bard to hold it over your head because I didn’t want him to even let you know he had it. I wanted him to take it and get rid of it. I wanted to never see it again, I wanted _you_ to never see it again even though I knew that for you to break the sickness you had to do it yourself, you needed to overcome the stupid rock but I didn’t know if you _could_ and-” Thorin’s finger being gently settled over her lips stopped her rant.

“Breathe, Belladonna.” The king whispered, pressing a lingering kiss to her temple. “I am not… I forgive you for taking it. I forgive you for giving it to Bard and Thranduil and I forgive you for not trusting me to fight my own battles. But only,” Bella winced, “if you forgive me for how atrociously I treated you to make you do that.”

“But you didn’t _make_ me do anything.” Bella said, finally looking up, “I hated the damn thing before we ever stepped foot in that mountain. Half of our journey was me plotting on how to get rid of it, I-”

“I cannot begrudge you for any step you took to protect my company.” Thorin said, “But you are well within your right to begrudge me for the things I did that endangered it.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed, “Belladonna, I remember every single thing I did. I remember everything I said. I remember the fear in your eyes as you looked at me and I-”

“We both did things we’re not proud of.” Bella said, smiling weakly up at him. “But we did them and there’s no changing that. So let’s just… let’s just move forward.”

“Speaking of moving forward,” Kili came around to Thorin’s left side as Fili appeared on the right, “Uncle has a proposition for you.”

“A… business deal, really.” Fili added.

“A what?” Bella looked from one prince to the other and then to Thorin, “What are they talking about?”

Thorin’s ears had started to go red, “It’s not a _business deal_.” He hissed, scowling at his nephew, “It is a…” he fumbled in his pockets for a moment and Bella took a half step back, “it’ a simple question.” He finally pulled a small silver bead from his pants; Bella recognized it, it was the one she had thrown at him up on the gate. “Gandalf says that your people usually use _rings_ , but given your track record with those, we thought we would use a dwarven tradition.”

Bella’s eyebrows furrowed as Fili and Kili snickered into their hands. What were they all going on about? Rings? What did anything have to do with a - _oh_!

 _Oh sweet fucking Jesus on a pogostick_ , Thorin was sliding down onto one knee, still holding his bead out to her and suddenly Bella couldn't breathe.

“Thorin-” she started to say, looking from Fili to Kili and then around them at the nearly empty parking lot. There was no one around, no distraction.

“Belladonna Baggins,” he said like Bella’s entire life wasn’t flashing before her eyes as she tried to remember how to breathe, “I… remember you telling me that hobbit’s, and I suppose not-hobbits, do not have kings or queens or royalty, and I am also well aware that I do not deserve to ask this of you but… Dwarves _do_ have queens and I have traveled to this world opposite my own to ask you if you would consider returning to Arda, to your _home_ and.. and  being mine.” He looked as jittery as Bella felt, like he was expecting her to reject him flat.

Bella’s mouth was gaping like a surprised, unattractive fish. “I…. are you asking me to marry you?”

“To be fair,” Kili said, undaunted by the glare his uncle sent him, “you’ve been considered the reigning queen of Erebor since we reclaimed the mountain but…” Fili shoved his elbow into his brother’s side and Kili hissed, “What?! She would have found out anyway. Dain would have brought it up the second he saw her.”

Bella was going to faint. Jesus Christ. “I….” She opened and closed her mouth once, twice, three times, before she finally just breathed out a quiet, disbelieving, “ _Yes_.”

Thorin scrambled to his feet, the most undignified Bella had ever seen the majestic king under the mountain, “What?” He asked urgently, both of his hands rising up to cup Bella’s face. “What?”

“I said yes.” Bella said and she had barely gotten the word out when Thorin kissed her. She laughed into it, grabbing into the front of his shirt and holding on as he kissed her again, and again, and again, like he never wanted to stop.

“Gross.” Kili mumbled to Fili who grunted in affirmation

“Guys, people are starting to stare.” Fili added.

Bella pulled away, her cheeks flushing at the suggestive wink from the middle aged woman passing them on her way to her car. She dropped her forehead onto Thorin’s chest, groaning in embarrassment. “That’s it. I have to move.” The woman lived down the street from her.

“Well, you did just agree to.” Kili pointed out very helpfully.

Bella just groaned again.

  
  


**_Another year later_ **

“Okay,” Bella said, leaning back on one hand and using the other to point at the sky above her head, “how about that one?” She asked.

“That’s Cassiopeia.” Gimli answered before Frodo had the chance, “She was that really vain queen, wasn’t she?”

“She was.” Bella nodded, smiling.

It was cold in Erebor, being early November, and the air even cut through Thorin’s coat -because if he was so determined to leave it thrown over the table instead of hanging it up she was going to steal it- , they would have to go inside soon. But it was so nice out on the balcony; they could see the lights of dale and even the beginning of the forest of Greenwood beyond it.

While they were still called Dale and The Greenwood, at least. With the upcoming marriage of Bard of Dale and Thranduil (and she still had to find a way to convince Thorin to let her attend that with minimal pouting) Bella had been privy to the angry grumblings from Sigrid about trying to find someway to combine the names as the kingdoms themselves combined.

Bella had suggested Greendale and it looked like that was the frontrunner.

“Do you think Dale is going to get greener?” Bella asked suddenly, “When Bard and Thranduil get married, I mean.”

“I went into Dale with Kili and Tauriel yesterday,” Frodo, now eleven, said around the stick of candy he’d pilfered from the kitchens, “it’s already greener. There’s plants everywhere and new trees growing in the center of town.”

“Elves are invading Dale.” Gimli agreed morosely, twirling the stick from his finished candy between his fingers.

“They are not _invading_ ,” Bella rolled her eyes, pulling Thorin’s coat tighter around herself, “their king is marrying again. And after the death of his wife that is a very hard and brave thing to do so you two had best be on your absolute best behavior to every elf you see, am I understood?” The tone of voice she used was somewhere between her, “I am your queen do as I say” voice and the one she used when Frodo was being a little shit.

“I like elves.” Frodo defended himself, “Thranduil sneaks me lavender candies during uncle Thorin’s boring meetings. We’re cool.”

“I was mostly talking to the one who put itching powder in Legolas’ boots last month.” Bella admitted, fixing Gimli with her most impressive stare.

The son of Gloin wilted under the expression and he nodded, “Yes, my queen.” He promised and Bella’s eyes rolled upwards again.

“I hate that.” She mumbled, “My name is _Bella_.”

“Your name is _Belladonna_.” Thorin said from behind them, in the doorway to their chambers, and Bella smiled, not turning around.

“You are the only person in this whole mountain to call me Belladonna, Thorin.” She pointed out as Frodo and Gimli got to their feet and bid them goodnight, having already declared their intention to get in some late night training with Dwalin once Thorin’s meeting with the Men ended. “How was the meeting?”

“Tedious.” Thorin grumped, dropping down next to her. “I see you stole my coat again. Thief.”

“Burglar.” Bella corrected, “And if you’re going to insist on leaving it laying around all over bloody place I am going to borrow it whenever I feel like it.” She paused and tilted her head to the side to smile at her husband, “You don’t actually mind, do you?”

Thorin’s face softened and he reached out with an arm, drawing Bella in close and pressing a kiss to her hair, unbound except for the small braid on the left side that held her marriage bead, “Of course not.” He said. “You’ve already stolen my heart, why not my clothes?”

Bella laughed quietly turning her eyes back to the stars, “These are the same stars as in my world.” She finally said, “I noticed when we were on the balcony in Mirkwood. They’re the same constellations and everything.” She wiggled to get more comfortable against Thorin, settling against his chest a moment later and pointing at the sky, “Andromeda, Perseus, Fornax…”

“Frodo was telling me about that. He said that you got very enthralled in astrology after your return.”

“I could see the stars,” she said softly, “and so I knew you had to be seeing them too.” She shrugged, “It helped me miss you all a little less.” She smiled, “Frodo would speak to them, sometimes, and pretend that they were you.”

“Pretend?” Thorin pulled away to look at her, his eyebrows furrowed, “He was not pretending, I could hear every word Frodo spoke, and sometimes he could hear me back.”

Bella pulled back all the way, her face going slack in her surprise, “What?”

“Frodo and I spoke through the stars nearly every night for two years.” Thorin’s eyebrows furrowed, “You were with him sometimes, though I couldn't hear you at all. He would relay the messages-”

“Yes, I remember.” Bella said weakly, swallowing hard past the lump in her throat, “I thought he was just… talking to himself to help himself cope. I never thought for a second he…. _how_?”

Thorin shrugged, “Gandalf thinks it has something to do with how close our words are. Much like you were able to pick up on our world and write about it, Frodo was able to pick up on it enough to hear me.” A pause, “It was because of Frodo that I came to collect you both, I cannot believe he never told you.”

“He never said a thing.” Bella sat back, her eyes once again on the sky, “I cannot believe _you_ never told me. Did the others know?”

“No, I kept it to myself. None of them were able to hear him and I did not want them to think that I was losing my mind again.” Thorin winced, “I almost did. When I woke up and you were gone. It was a very near thing, Belladonna.”

“At least you knew I was alive.” Bella pointed out, finally pushing to her feet and holding a hand down to the king. “Come on, I’m cold and this conversation is getting far too heavy.”

“You’re the one in my coat.” Thorin pointed out, accepting the hand and standing before pulling Bella in and kissing her firmly. “I love you.”

Bella just smiled, linking their hands together and tugging him into their chambers, the door shutting firmly behind them, shutting out the cold, the view of (Green)Dale, and all of the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So first of all I need to say a few thank you's ;D
> 
> [Carmen](http://littlestbionicgirl.tumblr.com/) and [Leah](http://supersonic-natural-disaster.tumblr.com/) for listening to me bitch about this for the entirety of the writing process  
> and  
> [Edenidoigo](http://edenidoigo.tumblr.com/) on tumblr for helping me get over the awful block on this epilogue and who has the best headcannons for this fic ever.
> 
> And of course every who read this, left a kudos, bookmarked it, or dropped me a comment, I love you all so very very much you keep me going <3
> 
> Also, you can catch Bella's Arda playlist right [HERE](http://8tracks.com/stilesinerebor/can-you-see-the-stars/)

**Author's Note:**

> I used Irish as the "Hobbit" language bc I think it's pretty. That's literally it.
> 
> Tanslations:  
> Irish/"Hobbit"
> 
> Dia duit. - Hello  
> Tá mé Thorin, Rí faoin Mountain uaigneach - I am Thorin, king under The Lonely Mountain  
> Nia - Nephew  
> A stór - Irish term of endearment, literally "A treasure"  
> Damanta fools béal os ard - Damned, loud mouth fools.
> 
> **The Title is taken from the Ed Sheeran song "All Of The Stars"


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